AtumComa The City Hidden in the Nexus
by Demonabyss
Summary: Ninjas, pirates, mad scientists, darkstalkers, all with a touch of general insanity. Darkstalkers come to the Elemental countries and start to really shake things up and Naruto is leading the charge. Moved to Crossover Area under Naruto/Darkstalkers.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 1: Treacherous Light

It was dark outside in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha. In this darkness, very few people stirred at this hour. However, in a ratty apartment that had definitely seen better days, one boy was still awake and staring at the moon for a moment before leaving with a bunch of scrolls and supplies. He wore torn clothes, barely a step up from rags, all dirtied to the point were the normally bright orange color was now faded and gray looking. The boy had blonde hair that also seemed faded and darker then it should. His face was bruised around his signature whisker marks on his cheeks and his bright blue eyes were dimmed. The child in question was the village pariah, Naruto Uzumaki.

Though he was only five years old, he had gone through more then most people five times his age. To put it simply, his life was hell. For reasons the five year old did not know, everyone in the village seemed to hate him unconditionally. Everywhere he went people gazed at him with hateful eyes and spoke with malice filled words. During the day on the streets, he was often beaten and spit upon by villagers and sometimes shinobi as well. Whenever he tried to make friends with other children, either their parents would take them away, yell at him, or the children themselves would drive him away. He couldn't understand why people did what they did, though he desperately wanted to understand. He could count the people who showed him kindness on one hand, Old man Hokage, Iruka sensei, old man Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame who was a little older then him. Other then those four, everyone else was cruel to him.

At the academy he was considered dead last because he wasn't good at ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu. However, that wasn't completely his fault. Despite working harder then many other students, no one was willing to show him anything or correct any of his mistakes when he practiced. Other than Iruka, none of the instructors could bare to look at him, much less explain things to him. He was lucky if they didn't yell at him and embarrass him in class for asking a question. Outside the academy, people treated him like dirt. Restaurants and shops, with the exception of Ichiraku Raman, always over charged him. The saddest part of all was the fact that he was used to this treatment, he expected it to happen day after day.

That was why the boy preferred the night to day. At night, there was next to no one outside, allowing him to go where he pleased without the worry of being mobbed or harassed. At night, he was free to train and do what he wanted. The darkness hid him away from the hateful glares, the piercing words, and cold loneliness. He could run and jump and do whatever he liked. The darkness was his friend. In the moonlight, his prison became his home. Each night he always had a strange urge to run away from the village, to the eastern horizon. The boy didn't know why he wanted to, but he knew he couldn't lest some of the village ninja hunt him down. In any case, this particular night was one that would change everything.

On the other end of the village, danger for the boy was stirring. Five years ago a massive nine-tailed demon fox called Kyuubi had attacked and destroyed their village, killing many civilians and ninja. There had been no way to stop the damned creature, only slow it down so that their leader at the time, the Fourth Hokage, could seal away the beast in a child, Naruto Uzumaki. It angered everyone to no end that the thing that had taken away their loved ones and destroyed their homes was still alive. Even worse was the fact that the Third Hokage made a law that the child would not be harmed or that anyone who knows of Kyuubi to speak of it to the younger generation. This situation enraged everyone, not only was their greatest enemy alive and at its weakest, but it was right there and easy to kill, yet they couldn't under penalty of death. Even worse was the fact that they could not warn their children of the danger this thing posed under the same threat. Tonight it would end. Tonight they would kill the demon, damn the consequences to hell. They would not let some soft hearted fool stop their justice.

In the forest, where the boy in question was training by himself, he stopped. Something was wrong, his danger sense that he had developed in his short life was acting up. A massive amount of killing intent was focused in his general direction. The boy had felt it many times around shinobi, so he knew what it meant. 'Someone's coming. They're really mad at me again! Why are they mad? What did I ever do to them? Why? Why? Why?' the child repeated over in his mind as he looked towards where the feeling was coming from. He could see it in the distance through the forest, torches. It was a mob, larger then any one he had seen before. Deep within him, a powerful instinct rose up. It was telling, nay screaming at him, to run away to the east. Unlike before, where the boy had wanted to stay in his village around those few who actually cared about him, this time the instinct won out and he turned and ran, instinctively heading east, though why that direction he had no idea.

Naruto ran tirelessly away from the sounds of the people out to kill him and the lights they carried in order to find him. His stamina had always been much higher then other peoples, but now under threat of death, he felt no exhaustion what so ever. A constant flow of energy fed into him as he ran faster and faster. Whether it came from fear or adrenaline or something from deep within him he didn't know, and didn't really care at this point. The blonde haired boy could hear something whispering in the back of his subconscious, telling him to keep going, to reach a place whose image was blurry in his mind, a place he had never seen before. This voice hadn't lied to him before, so he had no reason not to trust it.

The shinobi chased the boy as quickly as possible, but it was turning out to be much more difficult then they realized. Due to the boy playing pranks on the villagers, many shinobi had chased the demon and found him hard to catch due to his unnatural stamina. Now however, his stamina seemed to be limitless and even stranger was the fact that the boy was getting faster. They didn't understand how this was possible, but they didn't care at the moment. All they wanted was to catch the boy, and have their well deserved justice. He would not escape them.

Naruto continued to run through the woods effortlessly in the night. The forest passed him by in a dark blur as his mind was working equally as fast. 'What's going on? Why are they doing this to me? What did I ever do to them? Why's all this happening?' the child screamed in his mind as he ran. Without realizing it, he changed direction and headed to a large cave that he didn't even realize was there to hide. The shinobi followed him with the villagers close behind.

"No use running demon! This time we'll make sure you die!" one of the shinobi called out.

"Come out kitsune and we'll end this quick!" another taunted as they entered the cave.

Back in Konoha, the Sandaime Hokage was angry. Angry at the villagers for their idiocy in blaming and torturing an innocent boy, angry at the ninja who wanted to murder a child for something that wasn't his fault, and angry at himself for not doing more for the child that was the Yondaime's legacy. He turned to Kakashi Hatake, one of his top Jonin and tracking ninjas. "Kakashi, I want you to take a squad of Jonin and find Naruto immediately." The masked ninja nodded and disappeared. The Hokage then turned to Ibiki Morino, one of his top investigators and interrogators. "Ibiki, I want you to launch a full investigation. I want to know who was a part of this and whether or not it was planned."

"What should I do with those that I find sir?" he asked in all serious. Ibiki had seen his share of pain and torture and usually wasn't bothered by it. But inflicting that kind of treatment to the extent these people were to one little kid really pushed his buttons.

The old Hokage sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he had been turning a blind eye to Naruto's mistreatment for some time now. No more. He would not let an innocent child suffer due to his negligence. "Arrest them and take them into custody. They've earned a private session with you. I wish it hadn't come to this," he commented more to himself then to anyone.

Naruto continued to run deeper into the cave, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and the bioluminescence given off by some strange fungus. The catacombs were like a labyrinth, yet the boy knew these caves, he knew them well despite having never been down here before. The scared boy didn't ponder this as he ran for his life. The instinct driving him was getting stronger, directing him to some place. He turned down one path and came to … a door? It was large and wooden, like what one would find in a western-style medieval castle. On it was a strange burning red rune that seemed to shine brighter as he approached. It even seemed to give off a type of warmth that reverberated throughout his being, but not unpleasantly. 'What is this doing here?' he wondered to himself. However, before he could think on this, the echo of the hunter-nin behind jump-started his fear again, and he quickly opened the door and shut it, bolting it behind him.

The two shinobi that were acting as trackers for the main mob came to the door soon after the child closed it. "The brat's in here," the first one said as he approached the door. However, the red rune on the door reacted to his presence, and immediately the shinobi was burned by angry red-colored energy. He jumped back, his eyes blazing as he looked at his charred arm. "Damn it, that demon must've put up a barrier or something!" he cursed.

The other shinobi scowled. "Then we'll just bust the door down!" he cried as he started a string of hand seals.

Naruto was confused and frantic at this point. 'Why did I come here, it's a dead end!' he thought as he looked around the room. It was a storage room of some type that looked like it hadn't been used in years. It was then something spiked up inside his mind. _FIND IT. FIND THE KEY_. 'What was that? What key?' he thought as a surge of burning chakra from where he didn't know prompted him to do as it said. He searched the room for any kind of key, but found nothing but charred books and broken items that he had no clue what they had once been. The sounds of the ninja blasting at the door with ninjutsu hastened his attempts. He searched until he found a small box underneath some rubble. He opened it to find … a kunai? It looked like a kunai, yet it wasn't. This one was made of pure crystal and out lined with black marble. Strange black runes covered its surface and the handle was wrapped in red cloth similar to silk, yet it was also like fur. 'What kind of kunai is this?' he wondered as he stared at the object.

However, before the boy could dwell on this further, the red chakra from before reemerged, this time seemingly ten times stronger. Naruto cried out in pain as the chakra forcibly made its way through his body and into the strange kunai. The markings on the kunai started to glow an ominous blood-red as the crystal was seemingly filled with fire. The chakra was intense as it seemed to reform itself inside the kunai and then be emitted in front of the boy. It formed a strange circle of energy in front. After the surge of chakra died down, the boy was physically and mentally drained. Not having much of a choice, he sort of fell into the circle causing him to disappear. The circle dissipated leaving no trace of the boy or the strange kunai.

**DARK TOME****: Items**

**Keys of the Dark:** A key of the dark is a rare and valuable item. These items allow the user to transport themselves from one realm or world to another. However, a key of the dark can only bridge two specific worlds just as a door can only connect two specific rooms. The location the user ends up in either world is usually random unless there is an anchor of some sort attuned to the key in that world. It is important to note that keys are difficult to make and require a decent amount of energy to activate. As a result normal humans and creatures unable to manipulate energy cannot use them. Humans trained to use their chakra, or any other energy source from their body, for example would be able to. Also, keys of the dark don't necessarily have to be keys. They can be any item of any size, usually small items like a ring, watch, knife, etc. for ease of use and transport. Some keys can also be attuned to a certain type of energy or even a certain blood line. **WARNING**: Keys of the dark should be used with caution. Near constant use or using too much power may result in the key being damaged or destroyed. Damaged keys should **NOT** be used as they may result in landing the user in limbo rather then their destination of choice or possibly having the user killed while going through an unstable portal.

AN: I know it's a little short for a first chapter but I'll try to make the next one longer. Expect a DARK TOME entry at the end of the chapter usually; they'll be good reference later.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 2: Dark Crossroads

A dark wind blew over the area. It was quiet, devoid of any animal life and nearly any plant life. However, the silence was disturbed by a strange moaning. In the middle of this wasteland was a small boy clad in orange. The blonde slowly woke up, aching both inside and out. "Owe, what happened?" he asked to no one in particular as he slowly got up. All around him there was … nothing.

His senses were a mess, almost to the point of being sick. This entire place was wrong, just wrong in a way he couldn't pinpoint. It was a wasteland all around him though he should've been in what was once a forest with a road next to it, or what was left of one. Thing was, all the trees were black and dying it seemed, or at least really sickly. The sky was completely overcast, it was hard to even tell if the sun was out our not. Even the rocky and mountainous ground seemed distorted somehow, with all the land he could see around him dark-colored. The canyon next to him looked like someone had bombed it repeatedly. The air carried the stench of death and something that seemed both familiar and different to the boy. "Well, it could be worse. At least no ones here trying to kill me," he muttered to himself as he looked around.

Naruto started walking in a random direction down the road, despite being hardly able to stand. It seemed as if his renowned stamina had been drained from both being chased by those shinobi, the mob, and whatever the hell the weird kunai did to him in bringing him here, wherever here was. He still had it in his kunai holster, not knowing what to do with the thing, but knowing that it may be important later. The boy walked for some time, sparingly snacking on his rations that he had with him that he had been planning to use for training. So far, he had found little if anything to show that civilization was near, other then the very road he was walking on. He stopped as he grew tired once more. 'Where to sleep?' he thought as he looked around fearful. Tiredness, fear, and numbness were all bogging down on the poor boy. Even worse was the fact that the instinct he had come to rely on for so long to help keep himself alive back in Konoha seemed to have faded for some weird reason. He then saw a gnarled tree twisted over a small tree. "Good enough," he muttered as he crawled down into the alcove and curled up like an animal.

The blonde child found himself in a windy place. He woke up to a place far weirder then anything he had ever seen. "Where am I now?" he asked as he looked around. At the moment he was standing on a platform made up of strange metal cubes that were floating in mid air. Above and below him were storm clouds; all colored in a strange mix of various shades of red, blue, and purple. Lightning and thunder clashed every now and then but they didn't bother the boy at all. In the distance he could see large strange cubes floating through the clouds. He could also see other metal platforms, some with doors and some without. The one he was standing on had a strange metal door with odd runes on the sides. As soon as he approached it, the door dissolved, showing a vortex in front of him. Unafraid, the boy stepped through and ended up in another area similar to the first.

In front of the blonde boy appeared a massive steel cage. It was huge, easily dwarfing the size of the academy back in Konoha. Directly in front of the boy were two massive gates that were closed and locked together by a small strip of paper with the kanji on it for "seal". All of the sides of the cage were blocked by thick black clouds, leaving only the gate visible. Beyond the gate, Naruto could make out the outline of a huge creature that was resting judging from the loud but calm breathing he heard. "What is this?" he asked as he slowly approached the cage.

On the inside of the cage, the creature stirred as it felt the arrival of its jailor. It opened one massive, crimson eye to see a small, blonde-haired blue-eyed human child come up to the gate. The creature could attack its jailor, but what would that do? It would only force the jailor awake and in the long run make so that the child would not want to come back or even to have anything to do with it. Being captive was one thing, but solitary confinement would drive any intelligent being mad over time. Besides, the boy did not ask to be its jailor any more then it the captive. It decided to simply wait and see what the boy would do, since it was still exhausted from forcing its will and chakra through the seal in order to use the key. With a seal as strong as this one, it had taken quite a bit of effort to force its power through his jailor and into the key. In any case, the blonde-haired human was now standing in between the bars and staring right at it, though the creature could tell the child was having a hard time making out what it was in this darkness. The child tilted his head as he quietly asked, "Who or what are you?" The creature turned its massive head slightly and revealed its crimson eye to the child, shocking him and causing him to disappear, meaning that he had woken up. Things would be getting very interesting soon.

The blonde boy woke up, startled from his strange dream. Shaking his head, he got out of his hiding place and continued on his way. However, as he walked, the image of a huge, crimson eye never left him. As he traveled, he got a better look at the land around him. It really was dying, as barely any sunlight was peaking through the clouds. 'What happened here? Where is the sun?' he thought as he stared up into the sky. Naruto may have liked the night time, but even he could appreciate the warmth of sunlight every now and then. He also knew the sun was needed for life. How exactly he didn't know, but he did know the sun was important. Even more disturbing was the fact that the only sights of civilization that he had seen so far were deserted and destroyed villages in the distance, nothing left but a few piles of rubble. This place looked like it had been through his life several times over.

Naruto walked for days on the side of the canyon, sleeping in small caves like last night, running low on supplies. He hadn't had a dream like the one he had his first night in this weird land and he was glad for it. He kept walking until a certain stench hit his nose. Blood. Lots and lots of blood. It was fresh and nearby too. It was starting to make the boy sick to his stomach. He looked around for the source, the young boy's fear growing. That fear spiked up as he felt a massive killing intent upon him. It was like the intent he felt from his village's ninja only far worse. That had seemed to be minor annoyance compared to the killing intent he felt now. The boy looked up and saw something that would be ingrained into his mind for some time. It was a set of armor, blood red samurai armor with gold highlights. The chest and torso looked like the face of a demon mask with two glowing orbs where the eyes would be. The entire thing was surrounded in a sickly red aura as a black skinned man started to fade into the armor, also with crimson red eyes. There was also an insane look in the man's eyes that scared the boy more then anything else ever did. He backed up as the samurai drew his sword and spoke in twisted demonic voice. "I see this continent without wars is none-the-less filled with fools. A small boy on his own? Not much, but I suppose it will do for a days start," he grinned manically as he dashed forward towards the boy, intending to slice him in half.

Reacting as fast as possible, Naruto dived behind a rock, barely escaping the demon's blade. Once he did he immediately turned and ran, not needing his instinct to tell him to. The demon grinned, enjoying the fear that was radiating off the boy. He threw his sword at the boy at high speed. Seeing it, Naruto dived to the left as the blade cut his side. The crimson colored samurai laughed as he dashed forward at the boy, slashing him repeatedly. "Bah, barely worth the effort," he sneered as the child cried out in pain. The worst part of this was that this wasn't the first time. No, the boy had been beaten and slashed before, only this time he knew if he didn't do something this monster would kill him. The monster loomed over the boy. Seeing his only chance, Naruto took a smoke bomb and threw it right in the creature's face. He yelled out in surprise, giving the blonde child his chance to escape. Barely able to move he crawled to the steep cliff's edge and let himself fall. Once the smoke cleared, the demonic samurai cried out when he saw what his prey had down. "DAMN YOU BOY!" he cried as he slashed as the cliff side, causing a rock slide to follow the boy.

Naruto rolled down the cliff side away from the creature that nearly killed him. Rocks and stones cut into the boy as he fell. He finally hit the base of the cliff near a blackened forest, rolling a few feet away from the cliff base, making it so only a few of the rocks following him actually hit him, leaving him half buried. He was alive, tired, hungry, alone, scared, badly injured, and mentally exhausted, but alive. With nothing immediate for him to focus on, he let himself drift into a dreamless sleep. However, a short time later, two feet approached, two padded claw like feet.

Grace followed the strange scent to its source. She had picked up the scent when the wind shifted, and had decided to follow it. It was weird scent; it smelled like both an injured human and an injured fox at the same time, very young too. She followed the smell deeper through the forest away from the train and camp. Eventually, she came out of the forest and to what appeared to be a cliff. The scent was really strong now and she could vaguely feel some strange energy nearby. Grace looked around, not sure what she was looking for. It then she saw a short distance away, something blonde poking out from underneath a pile of rocks. She quickly ran up to find a young human boy, badly injured from the rock slide and something else. He had a backpack and his clothes were bright orange, and with his blonde hair it was hard to miss him.

The woman took a tentative sniff to confirm what she saw was true and not some type of trick. Her nose confirmed it; this boy was real and different somehow. He was human, but he also reeked of fox in a way she couldn't explain. His wounds gave off the stench of a powerful darkstalker that she couldn't identify. She pulled him out to get a better look at him. He was bruised all over and looked a little thin. It was then Grace noticed something else, the boy's wounds were healing much faster then a normal person's. 'Is he a darkstalker? But why doesn't he smell like one? And where did he get those clothes, hardly anyone wears bright orange these days,' she thought as she lifted the child off the ground with ease, noting that he was lighter then he looked, which wasn't good considering his size. 'Perhaps Felicia will know what to do with him,' Grace thought as her grey and white tail twitched as she headed back to camp.

Lucy lay on top of the stopped train just staring at the stars, what ones she could see anyway, her grey and black striped tail lazily swinging back and forth. She sighed as she stared at the clouded sky. 'I wish we could see the stars again. Stupid vampire,' the grey and black striped tabby catwoman absently cursed. It was then she noticed a scent on the wind. "Looks like Grace is back," she absently said before she noticed a second strange smell, "with a fox?" She got up and looked to see Grace approach the train holding a small human boy in her arm with blonde hair. "Hey Grace, who's the kid?" she asked as she hopped down.

The older bi-colored catwoman stopped in front of her friend. "I picked up his scent while hunting. I found him half dead buried under some rubble near the cliff. I couldn't just leave him there like that so I brought him here. Besides, I'm not sure he is human. Look at his injuries," she said as she pointed to a cut that was closing up before their eyes. Lucy's eyes widened at the implication. "Yeah, that's what I thought. In any case, where's Felicia?" she asked.

Lucy chuckled a little. "Shimbleshanks is at the engine, where else, worrying about the talks coming up in a few months. If she keeps this up she may end up with gray fur instead of white," she said as she jumped back on top of the train.

Grace chuckled. Sometimes Felicia went a little overboard with things, though she did have a right to worry. In any case, she had to find the white furred blue-haired catwoman to see what would be done with this strange boy. She walked down towards the head engine where she did indeed find Felicia, sitting on the side of her engine looking at a newspaper they had picked up a few days ago in one of few still living towns. Things were falling apart all over. The planet was dying with or without sunlight and there was little anyone could do about it. The talks coming up were a massive meeting of all the more peaceful darkstalker tribes and groups as well as the human groups, though there weren't that many when compared worldwide. It was to see if anything could be done, though many doubted it. In any case, Grace figured a small distraction may do the younger catwoman some good.

**DARK TOME:**** Creatures**

**Main**** Type:**** Bestial**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid shifter (Meaning they can transform)**

**Catwomen:** The existence of a semi-human race called Catwomen was something shocking for humans. Although a huge panic did not occur right away; the loving look that they had soothed people's rejection to them. It also helped that Catwomen are generally positive and friendly towards other races. The look that people gave them was a look of interest in a rare animal instead of a monster until the hatred of all Darkstalkers arose, resulting in their persecution as well.

Situation wise, Catwomen are very adaptable, as much or more so then humans. Their social structure is pretty much the same as humans in that the group chooses who is to lead them. Their current leader is Felicia, due to her extensive experience with both humans and darkstalkers and her avocation of peace over conquest. As a strange side effect of her being their leader, they have developed an odd affection for the arts such as singing, dancing, painting, etc, and especially theater (Which in turn has caused a number of inside jokes relating to the musical Cats). Why this has happened no one is sure, but nobody really minds so it has never been looked into. They tend to be very territorial when they find a home and will protect it from any who seek to invade it.

The Catwomen race is born as normal human babies, but around the age of 4-10, they start to grow body hair, ears, and tails. And although there are individual differences, they have the ability to transform into normal looking cats in order to avoid attention. Their sense of smell is several thousand times that of a human. They use this sense of smell to find other Catwomen and darkstalkers. They also dislike sunlight and usually act at night like normal cats and darkstalkers.

As the name suggests, there are no men in the Catwomen race. There have been Catwomen who married human men, but their children have a 50/50 chance of being a Catwoman. To be exact, any females born will almost always become Catwomen while any males will be normal human males. If the male is a darkstalker, then the odds change drastically depending on type and power differences.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 3: Jellicle Cats and a Fox

Naruto was sore all over. The red, sword freak had really done a number on him. His whole body hurt and his head was throbbing. It was hard for him to move as he slowly got his bearings. He was lying on a bed … that felt like it was moving? He slowly opened his eyes to see he was in a small room, about three times the size of his closet, with a small window that showed the landscape going by. 'What in the world?' he thought confused as he suddenly noticed a strange clacking sound that kept perfect rhythm. The blonde rubbed his eyes as he tried to get up when he noticed strange warmth and weight on top of his chest. He looked down to see two small balls of fluff, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be two kittens. Both of them were black with a tuft of oddly colored fur on top of their heads, one red and the other blue. His movement woke both of them up, showing off their bright amber eyes. The blonde stared at them for a moment before he started scratching the tops of their heads. 'I'm too sore to move around anyway,' he thought as he relaxed in the bed. The two kittens purred under the attention, not bothering to stop the human. They liked him since he didn't smell like a normal human. He smelled like a fox. In any case, the scratching session was interrupted when the door to room slid open.

Naruto looked up and blinked, thinking he was still dreaming. In front of him was a woman holding a tray with some food, at least he thought it was a woman. She didn't wear any obvious clothes and looked instead she was covered by what seemed to be like white fur. Her arms and legs were completely covered with some fur covering her crotch, some on her stomach, some covering her chest, around her neck, and lastly on top of her head. Also on the top of her head were a pair of what looked like cat ears, same color as her fur, sticking out of a large mane of blue hair that reached down to her back. Instead of normal feet, she had large, four-toed animalistic paws with deep rose-colored claws. Her hands were also much larger then a normal person's, paw-like, and also sported the same rose-colored claws. Her whole body was curvy and built with lean, flexible muscle, putting most kunoichi easily to shame. The whole image was made complete by her emerald green cat like eyes and a long tail sprouting from the base of her spine, covered in the same white fur as the rest of her.

The cat lady smiled at him kindly, slightly showing her fanged teeth. "Hey, glad to see you're awake. Feeling better?" she asked as she sat down on the bed and placed the tray to the side. Naruto nodded silently; still not sure he was seeing what he was seeing. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" she laughed, trying to break the tension. Both of the kittens let out a low growl that sounded like a groan at a bad joke. The cat lady frowned at them. "Well excuse me for trying to lighten things up. Now you two get going, Lucy has been looking all over for you two," she spoke as if addressing a pair of children. Both pitifully meowed, as if they didn't want to leave. "Get!" she ordered. Both of the kittens stuck their tongues out at her before leaving through the open door. Naruto just blinked at the whole scene, not sure at what he just saw. The cat lady turned back towards him. "Now then, I'm Felicia, and you are?" she asked kindly.

The boy looked right into the woman's animalistic eyes and was surprised at what he saw. Nothing. Her eyes held no hate, no coldness, and no cruelty, none of what he usually saw when he looked into people's eyes other then a chosen few back on Konoha. This woman who didn't seem completely human was treating him with more kindness then most humans he had known. As far as he was concerned, he had no reason to lie to her. "Naruto Uzumaki," he said quietly as he started to get up again.

The cat lady smiled warmly, decreasing his unease. "Well then, you hungry?" she asked. He nodded shyly, still unsure of how to act around this cat person. "Well then, eat up," she said as she presented the food to him. The tray held some dried meat, some bread, some milk, and some fruits and vegetables that looked shriveled. Normally he would've complained at the state of the food, but he was so hungry that he didn't care. He began to eat ravenously as Felicia chuckled. "Looks like your appetite is just fine, now why don't you tell me what you were doing half-buried under some rubble all cut up like that?" she asked kindly.

Naruto swallowed the fruit before answering. "I was wandering on my own lost when this scary, red, sword guy attacked me. I had to go over the cliff to get away from him," he said meekly, embarrassed about his own weakness.

Felicia narrowed her eyes for a moment. Scary, red, sword guy? There was only one real darkstalker she knew who fit that description and would willingly do something like this to a child. "Naruto the guy who attacked you; did he have black skin and dark red armor that looked like a demon's face?" Felicia asked. The boy nodded meekly, confirming the catwoman's theory, causing her to growl lowly. That bastard was known to be blood thirsty, but this was just intolerable! If she ever got her claws on him, she'd rip apart his crimson armor and scatter it to the four corners of the Human Realm and the Demon Realm! The blonde child looked up at her, fear suddenly evident in his eyes as he detected the killing intent he was very familiar with. Any time he encountered killing intent of this level, it was always directed at him and thus he started to back away from the cat lady. His movement broke her out of her momentary rage at the undead samurai. She was surprised to see the boy creeping away from her slowly, scared to death of her. It took the feline a moment to realize he thought she was angry at him for some odd reason. She smiled softly as she went over and hugged the boy, putting his fears to rest. "Don't worry Naruto, he won't be able to get you any more," she said kindly as he stopped shaking. Now Naruto was really confused. This catwoman wasn't angry at him at all, but at the one who hurt him. Why? Why did she care about him when the majority of people in his own village wanted him dead? The young boy just didn't understand and at the moment he didn't even try.

The moment was broken when another catwoman entered the compartment. This one was just as muscled as Felicia but slightly taller and thinner. Her fur covered her the same way with a slightly different pattern on her torso. She was a grey and black striped tabby with longer straight hair a darker blue then Felicia's. She also wore a red headband to keep her hair out of her amber colored eyes. "Hey Felicia, have you seen Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer around here?" the new catwoman asked.

Felicia stopped hugging Naruto, but didn't let go of him as she turned to address the new cat. "Mia and Ria? Not since I sent them out to find you fifteen minutes ago. Why? What have they done now?" she asked in a manner not unlike the Third Hokage when someone mentioned one of Naruto's pranks.

The tabby catwoman sighed. "Those two let all the mimmoths loose and we're still trying to catch all of them. We've got most of them, but there may be a few still running around just to warn you," she sighed before she noticed Naruto staring curiously at her. "Hey, how's the kit doing?" she asked curiously.

Felicia smiled. "He's fine. Had a run in with Bishamon by himself," the snow white catwoman explained.

The tabby whistled in admiration. "He survived Bishamon by himself? You must be tougher then you look kit. Name's Lucy, what's yours?" she asked as she presented in her paw towards him. He looked at her confused for a moment before answering.

"Naruto," he said carefully as he presented his own hand to hers.

The tabby grabbed it and shook it vigorously, smiling at him. "Glad to meet cha. Now, if ya don't mind, I've got a pair of black fuzz balls to track down," she said as she left to find two black kittens, leaving one grinning white catwoman holding a confused boy who had no clue as to what was going on.

Naruto stayed on the Prowler, the name of the train he was on, as he learned about Felicia and the tribe of Catwomen she led. Felicia had taken to him quite quickly along with Grace, Lucy, Mia, and Ria; the two black kittens he met when he first woke up. The blonde found out that the whole train and few other trains that were following this one were filled with what remained of the Catwomen race. Due to persecution of all darkstalkers, as was the general term for any non-human or supernatural creature, the Catwomen race was hunted just as vigorously. This persecution came from the fact that a powerful, demon vampire darkstalker hid away the sun a hundred years ago and now only recently within the past few years allowed it to shine again on certain parts of the globe. The problem was the fact that during those hundred years, many plants and animals were in the process of evolving where they didn't need sun. Now that it had been suddenly returned, many species couldn't keep up with the rapid change and were dying out, causing in turn many people and darkstalkers to die out as well. Many darkstalkers and humans banded together to survive through cooperation, while just as many others simply went mad and turned on their own kin. If a solution wasn't found soon, many people and darkstalkers would die along with what was left of the planet.

It had been a few days since Naruto had been brought aboard the Prowler as they headed east. Felicia visited often, telling him about what was going on and such. She found it odd that things that were more or less common knowledge were unknown to this boy. Then again, she chalked that up to the fact that he had lived alone all his life and was hated by his own village as he had told her. This just furthered her suspicions of him being a darkstalker, though what type was still a mystery. The blonde was soon up and about much quicker then any normal human could be at his age. He was wandering around the train car he was in and went into the next car. He was surprised to find a much more wide open car with a few Catwomen doing what looked liked training in an odd fighting style. One of them noticed the boy come in, it was Felicia. "Hey Naruto, nice to see you up," she greeted as she approached him.

The boy smiled up at her, becoming more comfortable in these darkstalkers' presences then he had ever been in the company of his own village. "What were doing? Was it training? Can I do too, please?" he asked her eagerly. Felicia blinked, for a moment, not sure how to respond to the request from the five-year old. Her response however was cut off when two large balls of black fluff with red and blue came from behind her and bum rushed the surprised boy.

"Kit's awake!" the red-haired, black-furred cat girl yelled as she hugged him.

"Yay! Now he can play with us!" the blue-haired, black-furred cat girl said as she hugged him as well. Then both of them turned towards their leader with big, sad, soulful, amber eyes. "Can he play with us? Please?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes, can he? Pretty please?" the red-haired one asked as well, doing the same as her twin.

Felicia looked at those eyes and sighed. Where those two learned that she would never know, though she did have her suspicions? Both were about the same age as Naruto and about the same size as well. She sighed as she looked at the three young ones staring up at her eagerly. 'How did I get stuck with this job anyway?' she sighed as she absently rubbed her head in thought. "All right, you three can train with us. But Ria and Mia, I told you two to quit tackling people like that," she scolded lightly.

"Sorry Mama Felicia," the intoned together in perfect unison.

So Felicia started to train the three of them alongside everyone else. Surprisingly, Naruto took to the style pretty well. Because the highly dancing-based Cat Scratch style, as it was commonly known among both humans and darkstalkers, had a lot to do with movement and fast attacks, Naruto's hyperactivity became an asset. Though he did have to improvise a little since he didn't have claws like they did, it seemed he shared their innate flexibility. Being the embodiment of the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat," a week later Mia and Ria found Naruto's scrolls on chakra manipulation and basic ninja techniques that he brought with him. Most of the Catwomen there found it interesting as the watched the young ones practice the strange hand seals and techniques, though they did find early on there were a couple problems. First was the simple fact that the cat girls' paws couldn't form the seals just right like Naruto could since the seals were originally designed for humans. This was corrected with some minor alterations suggested by Felicia. The other problem was one that no one was sure how to correct. It seemed all of them had a control problem. They weren't able to control how much chakra went into the techniques and thus kept overloading them. Even as young as they were, they were still innately putting too much power into the Henge and Kawarimi jutsus they were practicing. They had been practicing ever since Naruto showed them how to do it, but so far none of them had been able to do it correctly. All three looked at Felicia for help, causing Lucy to laugh at her clueless look. "Hey, why don't you get Jon to help? He's better at this sort of thing then you are anyway," the tabby catwoman said chuckling.

Felicia sighed again. Jon would probably get back at her for unleashing these three on him later, but in this world any advantage they could gain would be useful, even if it was a bunch of strange human techniques. "All right, I'll ask him when we meet up with him and the werewolves in a couple of weeks. Until then you'll just have to make due," she finished just before being enveloped in a hug by the two black-furred cat girls.

"Yay! We get to see Uncle Jon again!" the cried in unison. Naruto was confused but decided to just trust Felicia's judgment. Besides, there was no way this Jon guy could be any worse then the ninja back home … right?

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type****: Experiment**

**Sub Type:**** Biological (Created through genetic type experimentation/manipulation)**

**Mimmoths:** Mimmoths were originally an experiment created by a Spark (also known as Gifted or in a less polite term a Mad girl / Mad boy. To be defined in a later entry.) However they escaped and now cover a good part of the country. They are tiny vermin-like mammoths, about the size of mice. They fill the same niche as mice and tend to live along side them. However, they have the capability to do more damage then mice in that instead of eating food and spreading disease, they destroy machines from the inside out. They push and damage things with their tusks, unhinging or damaging connections that cause the machine to fall apart. As a result they are zealously hunted in any area with important or heavy machines nearby.

Oddly enough, mimmoths have been found to be a tasty snack by many when cooked right. Mimmoth on a stick is quite popular at fairs and similar events. Many groups keep them for that very purpose despite the possible danger/annoyance they pose. Some darkstalkers have been known to eat them raw and/or whole and/or still alive much to the disgust of most humans. Catwomen have been the most well known to keep them since they're so much like mice and in their opinion taste better (and they would know).

AN: For those wondering, I plan to base darkstalkers majority on the anime and the comics with the games as mostly an ability and history reference. I also plan to mix in some things that I personally have never seen in any fan fiction. Trust me, this is going to get weird and interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 4: Cats and Dogs

The Prowler had stopped at what was once a town, but had been abandoned due to local murderous darkstalkers. Said darkstalkers had been killed some time ago by hunters and so the place was now a simple ghost town. This was the place where Felicia had chosen to meet Jon Talbain, the current leader of the werewolf pack. It would be a week at least before he showed up though, so in that time Felicia had decided to make a semi-permanent camp in this ghost town since the talks would occur at a devastated town not far from where they were. They also needed to do some heavy maintenance on the trains and it was not safe to do that out in the open wasteland or in the wilds. Right now, everyone was pretty much doing her (in Naruto's case his) own thing.

Naruto was walking around town with Ria and Mia, both in their smaller kitten forms, riding on each of his shoulders. They had been training in techniques for the past couple of weeks. They had improved their control, but still the jutsus misfired from time to time and they still used too much energy to actually do them perfectly. The three of them were now near the edge of town, not doing much as they had completed their training for the day. Naruto sat on a roof top while looking out onto the barren landscape. It was hard for him to imagine that this had all once been green and healthy with a blue sky instead of a blackened overcast sky. The boy was still a little nervous about meeting with this Jon Talbain guy. He didn't know why, but the idea of werewolves just bothered him, though after living with a tribe of catwomen it shouldn't have been a problem.

As he stared out onto the horizon, he saw something far in the distance. It was a mass of animals it looked like, almost like a small army. The mass moved in perfect unison as it approached. As it moved closer, Naruto was able to get a better look at it. The mass was a large group of wolves, humanoid wolves. In the front of this colossal pack was a distinctly larger white and blue werewolf. The wind shifted, carrying the scent of the hundreds of bestial darkstalkers towards the town. Immediately something inside Naruto just cringed at the smell of wolf. He didn't know what it was, but he could almost swear he heard a low growling being emitted from the back of his mind … or was that him? The blonde wasn't sure, but was broken out of his reverie by the sound of hundreds of catwomen coming to where he was from all over in the town. In front of the pride was Felicia, running on all fours as he had seen her do often. She had a pleasant smile on her face, as if she were seeing an old friend. Ria and Mia both jumped off his shoulders and morphed into their humanoid forms. They had tried morphing once while still riding on him, that hadn't ended well. In any case, they three of them watched as the two groups, one of felines and the other of canines. Naruto watched cautious eyes, his instinct in the back of his mind on guard at the sight of these werewolves.

Jon ran towards his old friend Felicia with his pack behind him. He smiled slightly to himself as he could spot her sky blue hair easily. She hadn't changed since he had first met her during one of her auditions when he had … accidentally interrupted it. He later met up with her during the Hutzil invasion and had stopped her from killing herself in order to rescue a human town. Even now he sometimes had a hard time understanding why she cared so much about humans. Ah well, it made her an excellent emissary to the human groups for the darkstalker clans. In any case, as he approached the town a strange scent passed by, causing him and number of other werewolves to look towards the source. On the top of a nearby building at the edge of the town were there were two cat girls and … a human boy in orange? He focused his senses on the boy he noticed a few peculiar things about him. The first was the fact that he practically reeked of fox, yet in an indirect way that he couldn't understand. The fox image was enhanced by the whisker like marks on the boy's face. From what he could tell, the boy seemed uneasy looking at him. There was also something else he could sense from the boy. A power, an immense dark power that was there brewing beneath the surface just waiting to be tapped into. He frowned as he ran, making a mental note to ask Felicia about the boy.

The blue-haired catwoman smiled as she ran up to her old friend, unhindered by normal greeting protocols. She gave him a huge hug which he reciprocated, causing him and others on both sides to chuckle. The catwomen race and the werewolves were on very good terms due to the fact that their leaders were good friends. The two groups were of the same type and the fact that they faced similar problems in regards to humans and other darkstalkers also brought the races together. "It's been awhile Jon, I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me," she said playfully.

The werewolf just chuckled. "With your chipper attitude, do you have to ask?" he replied good naturedly as all the bestial darkstalkers walked back into town. As they went into town, he could still feel that boy's eyes on his back despite the distance. "So, who was that blonde human I saw?" he asked. Immediately, Felicia became slightly more sober. Most other people wouldn't have noticed it, but due to the time he had spent around her he noticed. "There's something strange about him isn't there?" he asked softly.

The catwoman sighed. "His name is Naruto and we found him a few weeks ago on our way here. He's very friendly and has been training with us and teaching us some interesting techniques. What bothers me is that I'm not sure if he's a darkstalker or not. He reeks indirectly of fox, has healing abilities that no normal human would have, stamina that gives me a run for my money, and his energy levels are much higher the some of the best trained catwomen I have. If I didn't know better I'd say he was bestial type darkstalker, but other then the smell and those whisker marks he doesn't show any outwards signs of being one. I'm just not sure what he is," she explained as they walked to her temporary apartment near the train station.

Jon was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Do you think that he might be a half-breed, like Donavon?" the werewolf suggested.

Felicia frowned. "I've thought about that and it might be a possibility. The only problem is his smell it doesn't match up at all. He smells more like someone who is possessed by a demon, but he doesn't show any of the symptoms of possession at all other then that. I'm just not sure," she explained as they went inside. It was small and sparsely furnished, but it was enough for the time being. With the world being the way it was, they couldn't spare much on frivolities. "Want something to drink?" she asked.

"No thanks. Anyway, perhaps we could have Gil and Agatha look at him, they'd probably be able to figure out what he is," the werewolf suggested as he shifted back into his human form of a lithe man with pale white hair.

"Perhaps, but I'm a little reluctant to have those sparks experiment on him. You know how sparks are once they get going." She shivered as she remembered the last time she had seen Spark madness. "Creepy. Anyway I have a favor to ask you," she said in a sweet tone which would cause any male's senses to go on high alert.

Jon Talbain was no different. "Oh no, whatever it is no. I will not be corralled into one of your favors again," he said defiantly.

Felicia laughed lightly. "It's not life threatening. All I want is for you to help Ria, Mia, and Naruto with their power control is all." She turned towards him and instantly her eyes seemed to double in size as she clasped her paws in front of her and stuck out her lower lip slightly in a pout. "Pwease?" she said in the cutest and sweetest voice imaginable. She looked like a cross between a large kitten wanting some milk and a little girl asking for some candy.

Jon's eye twitched. That look should be registered as a lethal weapon. Despite being an accomplished martial artist and the leader of one of the most influential darkstalker groups, he STILL couldn't say no to that face. He even was absently calling it her "Kitten Face" technique. Damn her for inventing it and damn him for falling for it EVERY DAMN TIME! "ALL RIGHT! I'll train them; just put that face of yours away." She smiled brightly and went back to the kitchen. "Manipulative, overgrown, fur-ball," he muttered under his breath.

She just smiled wider. "I love you to Jon."

Naruto walked through town back to his temporary apartment with Felicia, Mia, and Ria. All around him were catwomen and werewolves doing various things. Despite some of the werewolves being in human form, Naruto was still unexplainably uneasy. He couldn't understand it. He shook his head as he noticed Felicia walking towards him with a white-haired man next to her. Despite his change in appearance, the blonde knew this was the same werewolf he saw leading the pack earlier. Again as before, something inside him was snarling, telling him to get away from the canine. Naruto ignored it in favor of the reason that if Felicia trusted him then so could he. "Hey Naruto, we were looking for you. This is my friend Jon Talbain, he's agreed to help you, Mia, and Ria on your control problems," the catwoman explained.

Naruto looked at the man who had agreed to help him. He reminded the boy of some of the Anbu ninja he had rarely seen back home. Still, the fox boy was willing to give the guy a shot. "Nice to meet ya kid, lets go find those two fur-ball sisters and see what you three can do," Jon said kindly to help ease the kid's tension. The boy eased somewhat, but not completely, he'd have to work on that.

They quickly found the twin cat girls and began training. Immediately the werewolf could see what Felicia had been talking about with this boy. He had a lot of stamina and kept going even when the two kittens were starting to tire out. That was also part of the problem, even though it was one many darkstalkers had when they attempted to use human techniques. Humans were used to using a limited amount of power and thus developed techniques that were effective and efficient. Darkstalkers on the other hand, wielding what was known as the power of the cursed Dark, normally had four to five times the power of a human the same age and training. This kid had even more then that and yet for all intents and purposes, he seemed almost completely human. In any case, it was his job to help these three out as there were others who were starting to become interested in the techniques from just watching them. "Okay, I see the problem. Sit down you three and let me explain," he said seriously. The three did so, Naruto in the middle with Mia and Ria at his sides. "Okay, the problem is you're simply using too much power in the techniques. When you let your power flow into them, begin with just the barest amount. Start with just enough power to feel a slight relief and go from there," he explained.

The trio nodded and went back to doing the Henge jutsu again. Mia and Ria were both trying to transform into Lucy, who was watching as well. Naruto on the other hand tried to transform in Jon himself. The cat girls were able to transform into the basic shape of Lucy, but got the coloring wrong as they still retained their black fur and colored hair. Naruto ended up in a similar position, right shape wrong color scheme. The werewolf did get a chuckle out of seeing himself with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big dopey grin on his face. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

Weeks passed and Jon continued to train the trio along with other cat girls and younger werewolves who all had become interested in the techniques Naruto had brought with him. The Kawarimi jutsu was more popular among the older darkstalkers due to its usage and tactical value in battle. On the other hand (or paw to be more accurate) the Henge jutsu was becoming a favorite of the younger due to the fun they could have with it. It was also during this time that Naruto had earned the nickname Kit due to smelling like a fox and it had stuck. It annoyed the boy to no end but it was definitely a step up from his nicknames from Konoha. The boy hadn't thought much about his "home" since he had met up with Felicia and the catwomen tribe. Getting attacked by that crazy red dude and then ending up with a large group of humanoid feline females, it was easy to see why his old life had been shoved to the back burner in his mind. Now add to the shape shifting wolves, the leader of which was now training him. His life had taken a very weird turn. What he failed to realize was things were going to get much weirder very soon.

Forces gathered as the time for the talks came closer. Darkstalker groups from all over the world were gathering in this one place. However, that created a problem. It made it a prime opportunity for hunters of the Dark. True, due to the world failing as it was, many hunters simply joined up with the human groups, however there were a few fanatics running around. One of the most dangerous was Bulleta also known as Baby Bonnie Hood. She was a teenaged S-class hunter with blonde hair, blue eyes, a red hood and cape, with a heart as black as any darkstalker and obsessed with wiping them out. She had come here to this town a few days before the talks would begin to hunt down one specific darkstalker, the leader of the werewolves, Jon Talbain. The blonde girl giggled insanely from her spot on a cliff, over looking the town. With the talks, no one would notice one more human in town until it was too late. 'Oh yes, you'll make a fine trophy wolf boy,' she thought maniacally as she stroked her Uzi.

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Bestial**

**Sub Type: ****Shifter**

**Werewolves:** In popular folklore, a man who is transformed, or who transforms himself, into a wolf in nature and appearance under the influence of a full moon. The Werewolf is only active at night and during that period he devours infants and corpses. According to legend, Werewolves can be killed by silver objects such as silver arrows and silver bullets. When a Werewolf dies he is returned to his human form.

In truth, werewolves can transform at any time with proper guidance, however under the full moon a werewolf is forced to transform as their wolf instincts flare up at the sight of the moon. Also, because they can control their transformation, usually, they can be active during the daytime, though like most darkstalkers they prefer the night. They do not feed on corpses or infants; that is just propaganda and superstition. However, the legend of silver objects being lethal to werewolves is correct, but only if it gets into their blood stream. Otherwise only prolonged contact with it can do any serious damage. Wolf's bane has been known to have similar, if far less lethal, effects on werewolves. The legend of becoming a werewolf due to a bite is only partially true. What is truly needed is a blood transfer of some type in order for that to happen. Even more so is the fact that the blood must be compatible much like a normal blood transfusion. If not, depending on whom it is transferred into, it will disperse harmlessly (darkstalkers) or it will poison them causing incredible pain before death (humans).

Werewolves, despite their human forms, have a harder time of blending into society then catwomen. Due to the fact that their human and bestial natures as less blended than catwomen, it's harder for them to balance them and keep their bestial instinct under control. Their instinct becomes harder to repress the longer they have to keep it in, especially under a full moon. This is why occurrences of werewolf attacks happen mostly in cities or crowded areas where there is no place safe and or private for them to release it. They can travel in packs or on their own, depending on the situation. Like catwomen, they choose their leaders, though unlike them it is less like a democracy and based more on strength. Recently, Jon Talbain has been given the role of leader and as a result has stopped the majority of hostilities towards humans. However, not everyone is happy with this.

AN: For those of you who are wondering, I'm basing darkstalkers mostly on the anime first, then the comics, and lastly on the games. Naruto is based off of the anime and what I've read in fan fiction. I also plan to do a few things that I've never seen anywhere as well as include characters from other sources that I've not seen anywhere else in fan fiction as well. Sorry for the wait but college and work come first. Please R&R.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 5: Awakening

Naruto amazed at what he was seeing. All around him were darkstalkers of every type he could imagine. Humanoid, natural, unnatural, animal, mechanical, and even some that were plants! There were also humans running around, but he could tell just from looking at them that they weren't normal by any means. Some were dressed as monks, priests, and some in robes he couldn't tell were for. Some wore masks and others strange armor. All and all, it looked like a number of international books along with a Halloween store chopped up and scrunched together into this one town.

Right now he had just finished training with Jon and was walking around town with Ria, Mia, and Lucy who was watching the trio. The werewolf was nice once you got to know him a little bit. He was strict though and didn't let up when training, though he was a great deal better then his teachers back home with the exception of Iruka sensei. The werewolf was teaching the boy his own style of martial arts, surprised at how quickly the boy picked it up when taught properly. As before, the boy's stamina and determination was an asset as he trained. In any case he was now looking for something to do, when he heard a small explosion. "What was that?" he asked looking at Mia and Ria who were riding on his shoulders again. Both the cats on his shoulders just looked at him as they ran to the building it came from with Lucy following them.

They ran into one of the once abandoned buildings that were now being used by one of the groups that had come to town for the talks. Inside were a lot of smoke and the sounds of what seemed like a little kid and a couple adults coughing. When the smoke cleared; Naruto saw a kid his age and two adults. Both adults seemed larger and stockier then normal people. One was a man with short black hair and the other was a woman with longer red hair. The kid was a boy with short dark blonde hair and green eyes and seemed frustrated as ever about something. "Oh man, why can't I do it? Aunt Judy can I please take this off," the boy pleaded while pointing to a strange gold colored locket shaped like a trilobite.

The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry Leon, but you know what your mother said. You're too young and your breakthrough was just a year ago. You have to wait at least a couple more years. I know it's frustrating but your mother and father are just concerned with your safety, you know what might happen if you take it off too soon," the woman said gently to the child. The woman then looked up at the interested faced of a blonde haired boy and two cat girls and the bored catwoman. "It seems your experiment has attracted a few observers," the woman said.

Naruto, Ria, and Mia all looked a little sheepish while Lucy just grinned like the cat she was. "We heard an explosion," the red-haired cat girl began.

"And we were curious about what it was," the blue-haired one finished.

The woman chuckled. 'Typical cats,' she thought before turning to the blue-eyed boy who was staring. "Well come in. I'm Judy, this is Punch, and Leon," the woman said kindly as the three came in confused and curious. "So, who are you three and what are you doing around here?" she asked pleasantly.

"I'm Lucy, this is Naruto, Mia, and Ria," she introduced them as the two cat girls came up. Both said hello in unison as they came up and got a good sniff of Leon. They had memorized his scent before smiling, transforming into their cat forms and started rubbing up against him, obviously liking him. "Guess you made a good impression, what were doing just now?" the tabby catwoman asked curious. Leon just sighed and began to explain what he was doing, or at least what he was trying to do.

Bulleta cautiously made her way through town, her hand hovering over her Uzi, just itching to blast every single one of these damned darkstalkers to oblivion. She restrained herself, with great difficulty, from doing so. She wasn't here to deal with these low class pieces of trash. No, she was here for big game. All she had to do was find it, and wait for the perfect time to strike. Oh yes, that damn werewolf had this coming for a long time. Now she just had to get a lead on where the damn wolf was. The blonde hunter looked around from under the dark hood and cloak she was wearing. So far she had no real leads as the talks had caused security to increase quite a bit just after she had arrived. It was becoming frustrating trying to find out where that damn wolf was or would be. It was then something caught her ear.

"So you've been training with Jon Talbain? Wow, wish I could do that," a boy's voice said nearby. The hunter immediately hid herself and watched as a tabby catwoman, two cat girls, two young boys, and a pair of constructs. Though the catwoman, cat girls, the green eyed boy, and the constructs seemed normal enough, the teenaged hunter could tell there was something weird about the blonde, blue-eyed boy. In any case, she shook it off and listened in as the small group.

"If you want, I could see if he'd be willing to train you too," the orange clad boy said again. Interesting, so this boy knows the wolf? That could be useful. The hunter followed the group, a plan slowly forming in her mind as she did.

Lucy laughed at the idea. "If nothing else, Felicia could "convince" him easily," she said as she snickered at Jon inability to resist "the face". Ria, Mia, and Naruto all chuckled at the inside joke.

"So have you heard …" the red-haired cat girl started to ask.

"…about the talks?" the blue-haired cat girl finished.

Leon shook his head. "My mom and dad have been in talks for the past couple days but they haven't said much. From what I can tell, things haven't been going well. The world is just too messed up and it's dragging the demon world down with it, though those idiots won't do anything to help," the young spark explained.

"That sucks," Naruto said dimly. The others just silently agreed as they walked through town.

It was starting to get early in the morning, meaning that most darkstalkers were heading to bed for good day's rest. As a result there weren't that many people (using the term as LOOSLY as possible) on the street. Lucy absently yawned, wanting nothing more then to then to curl up and take a cat nap. However as she yawned she picked up a familiar scent, one which she wished she didn't. Immediately her fur stood on end as she crouched down with her tail lashing. All of them noticed her sudden change in mood and looked around to see what spooked her so bad. They asked her what was wrong. "She's here! What the hell is that hunter doing here?" she cried as she searched frantically for the source of scent. 'Come on, where are you, you little bitch?' she thought as her eyes became slits in search of the red hooded menace. It was then something landed in front of her. It was a small, metal, beeping ball. "Shit!" she cried before the thing exploded in a cloud of gas. All of them were covered in it and were out in seconds as the gas was made specifically for darkstalkers and could knock them out for hours, humans for days. Out of the shadows appeared a teenager in a red hood and gas mask. She picked up the orange clad boy and ran off, not wanting to attract any more attention then necessary.

Lucy stirred, growling under her breath about a certain red-hooded hunter. Her head and most of her body just hurt. Whatever was in that gas; had surely knocked her for a loop. Her vision cleared and she saw Grace standing above her looking concerned. The tabby was in the makeshift medical center of the town, used for both darkstalkers and humans alike. "Lucy, what happened? We found you, Ria, Mia, two constructs, and a boy in the middle of the street unconscious. What happened to you and where's Naruto?" the two toned catwoman asked concerned.

The tabby catwoman growled again. "Bulleta, it was Bulleta. That little bitch is in town. I caught her scent just before we were gassed. She probably grabbed Naruto just after," she snarled as she sat up, her head pounding. "When I get my claws on her I'm gonna rip her into tiny little pieces," she swore as she flexed her dark blue colored claws.

Grace nodded. "I'll tell Felicia immediately. Having an S-Class hunter in town is not good for anyone. Though what she wants with Kit is beyond me, she will pay for taking him," the gray and white cat growled just as fiercely.

The blonde boy woke up slowly, his head pounding for some reason. What had hit him? He slowly opened his eyes to a sparsely furnished room inside some shack or someplace similar. Trying to move, he found he was tightly bound to a chair with a lot of rope. He could hear someone in another room. The blonde looked up to see a teenaged blonde girl come into the room, looking surprised to see him looking at her. She blinked a couple of times before smirking. "Well, so you're up. Guess I was right in thinking you were a darkstalker, no human could be up this soon. So kid, what's your name?" she asked as she took out her Uzi and started checking it.

"Naruto," he stated simply wondering who in the world this girl was. She had blonde hair, lighter then his, and blue eyes. There was something in her eyes the just made something inside him go on alert, as if sensing a hidden predator right in front of him. The feeling wouldn't go away and was growing slowly inside of him.

The girl just smirked again. "So Naruto, what's your connection to that werewolf?" she asked as she got up and stood right in front of him. The malice she had when she said the word werewolf was just barely hidden. It might've fooled other children, but not one who knew hatred when he saw it like Naruto. He opted to stay quiet to her inquiry, for all the good it would do him. Bulleta saw his defiance to her question and her smirk evolved into a full blown demented smile. Naruto gulped, familiar with that particular smile, though he wished to whoever was listening that he wasn't.

Felicia searched throughout the town along with every available darkstalker and was now at the far outskirts of the town. Once word got out that Bulleta was in town, many had joined in the search for the teenager. She was well known and hated in many darkstalker circles and clans for what she did. The blonde-haired teenager was known to be outlandishly cruel to those she hunted and tended to display her kills like trophies. It made the catwoman's skin crawl at the thought of it. The idea that she was doing that to Kit made the clan leader move even faster in her search. As she ran she finally picked up the scent of Kit and that blonde haired little bitch on the wind and immediately began to follow it. The scent led deep into the blackened woods where the catwoman could faintly hear someone screaming. It was the screaming of a child, a young boy, KIT! 'That bitch! She's dead!' the cat woman thought enraged as she sped up to find the source of the sound. The catwoman finally came to a small rundown building. It looked like it was once a church or something similar.

Felicia snarled at the sound of Naruto's screaming. She shifted into her cat form and quickly made her way in. The place was in ruins, looking like it had been burned and torn apart some time ago. The smell of blood and death still lingered in this place. 'Perfect for that psychotic bitch,' the catwoman thought sourly as she quickly made her way through the rubble. The screaming stopped but she could tell where the sound had come from. She snuck into the back room where she finally found Naruto in horrible condition. His face looked like it had been hit multiple times with both blunt and sharp objects. Despite the fact that the wounds were already healing, Felicia was now pissed. She shook her head, as much as she wanted to rip Bulleta a new one for what she had done, it would have to wait until she got Naruto out of here. Right now Bulleta wasn't in the room so this was a good a chance as any to get the boy out of there. She shifted into her human form and began to cut away at the ropes, not noticing the small device attached to the underside of the chair.

Naruto stirred shortly after that last beating. This wasn't anything new to the boy, but he had never guessed one teenager could be equally as cruel as a mob of enraged villagers. Right now there was someone behind him, undoing the ropes. A scent caught his nose as he started to wake up. Fish, mimmoths, lilac, and catnip … Felicia. Soon the ropes were cut off but he was too tired to even move. "It's okay Kit, I'm getting you out of here," he heard her whisper as she moved to pick him up. As soon as his weight was removed from the chair, the device activated.

Bulleta smiled as she watched the side of the building blow up. Shrapnel flying everywhere along with two bodies, one female covered in white fur and the other small and dress in orange. Booby trapping the kid was a good idea, though she was hoping to catch the damn wolf instead of the cat slut. Oh well, the leader of the catwomen clan was still a decent trophy. She moved in as the white catwoman sorely got up. "Well I was hoping to catch a wolf, instead I get a cat. Oh well, take what you can get," the blonde teenager as she pulled out her Uzi and aimed it at the catwoman.

Reacting quickly, Felicia did a _Sand Splash_ right Bulleta's face, obscuring her sight. As soon as the attack hit her, she began firing as Felicia dashed away to get a little distance between her and the maniac with the gun. Grinning madly, Bulleta fired off a pair of missiles at the feline. Felicia jumped just as they exploded, giving her an extra boost from the blast. She jumped off one tree and to another and another, bounding all over the place as the red hooded hunter tried to get a bead on her with her Uzi. Trees and ground were ripped apart by the bullets as the cat danced and dodged them. Bulleta grew angry and pulled out a second Uzi. Seeing this, Felicia immediately went into a _Rolling Buckler_, curling up and rolling like a wheel, increasing her speed exponentially. "Damn it! Hold still!" the hunter yelled as launched another volley of missiles.

Felicia dodged as best she could, but unless she could get close there wasn't much she could do. 'God damn, how many weapons does this brat have? I'll have to try something a little different if I'm going to get Naruto out of here,' she thought despite the gunfire. Still rolling, she turned and headed right at Bulleta, much to the hunter's surprise. Grinning madly, she opened fire on the whirling fur ball as she came whirling in. Just as Felicia was about to hit, she jumped over the hunter, surprising her. In mid jump, Felicia quickly reversed the direction she was rolling so that when she landed instead of rolling away she rolled right into the hunter in a _Rolling Buckler Reverse_. Once she was in Bulleta's face, much too close to properly use guns, she unrolled herself, planted her hands/paws and nailed the blonde teenager right in the face with a well placed _Delta Kick_. After the strike, Bulleta was knocked back into a tree hard and was barely able to move. Seeing her chance, Felicia turned around to grab Naruto and get out of there as fast as possible.

Naruto looked up, still recovering from that blast in the church. He saw Felicia running towards him, looking a little worse for wear. However, before she got him, a blast of fire knocked her away and into what was left of the church. The boy looked to see the teenager up again, this time holding a new weapon with a small flame at the end. "Just for that cat, I'm gonna roast you alive!" she cried as she shot a stream of fire on the prone catwoman before she could do anything.

Naruto watched in horror as one of the few people he considered family was burned alive in front of him. Inside his mind, memories of Konoha came to the forefront. Memories of people chasing him, hurting him, ignoring his very existence, treating him like he carried some sort of plague, keeping him from having any friends, decent food or clothes, and last but not least chasing him on the night he was brought to this world. This world that had given him family and friends, although unusual, that he was now stuck in. Now one of the most important of said family was being killed right in front of him. Deep inside the small boy, something snapped and chains that had been tight for the past five years were now loosened as an inhuman rage built along with a power he didn't know he had, or at the time didn't care about.

Bulleta smiled as she watched the catwomen struggle to get up after the first volley of her flamethrower. She should've done this in the first place. However, before she could finish the job and cook the cat slut … she felt it. An immense wave of killing intent had descended that made even a seasoned hunter like her sick to her stomach. She turned to see the orange colored kid getting up and snarl at her. Bulleta took a step back at the sight of his face. It was rage, pure animalistic rage like what she had seen on high class darkstalkers. It was disturbing to see it on a kid. Then it appeared, burning blood red energy in the form of a pair of flaming circles and a double helix. The blond hunter watched in fearful fascination as the boy's wounds healed up instantly. At the same time, the burning red energy began to form into something. It formed into an animal head, long muzzle, long ears, sharp teeth, and black rimmed burning red eyes, definitely canine though not a wolf or dog of any sort that she could tell. The energy settled and concentrated itself onto the boy, forming a burning aura in the faint outline of the creature it had been a moment before. "Well, looks like things have gotten a little interesting," she said as she aimed her flamethrower at the kid, regaining her senses.

The rage possessed boy ran right at the teenager that had hurt his family. He dodged to the side as she fired the flamethrower. Just as he was about to reach her, she whipped out an Uzi and fired on him. He jumped out of the way, just as fast as Felicia in his current state. Before either could attack, a wolf howl was heard close by. Bulleta silently cursed, the boy's flare in power had attracted every darkstalker within range. While she was distracted for a moment, Naruto reached for one of his kunai and grabbed the first one he touched, the crystal kunai.

Jon Talbain and a good portion of his pack entered the area where they had ALL felt the dark power flare up. They were surprised at what they found. Felicia was down and looking like she needed some medical attention, Bulleta holding a flamethrower, and Naruto covered in a demonic red aura holding a weird knife that looked like it was made of diamond. Before anyone could think further on this, some of Naruto's red aura was sucked into the knife, causing it to react. The kunai, charged with this burning, red energy, formed a portal in front of everyone. Jon's eyes widened. 'A Key! He had a Key of the Dark this whole time,' he thought as the portal showed where it led. However instead of seeing the decaying demon world Makai that all known Keys led too, it was a vision of a lush green forest with blue skies and what looked like a city in the distance. The werewolf could also make out a monument with four human faces carved into it. The darkstalker clan leader's eyes widened at the implication of this. He then turned to Bulleta who scowled at the scene. Seeing no chance against this many darkstalkers and an enraged super brat, she decided to retreat by throwing a smoke bomb. Once it cleared she was gone. "Find her! I want that bitch found immediately!" Jon yelled as a few members were only too happy to comply. Seeing the threat gone, Naruto seemed to calm down, the red aura and the Key powering down with him. He then fell flat on his face, out cold and still holding the weird knife in his hand. Jon walked up to the boy and shook his head. "I knew you were going to be trouble kid and it looks like I was right," he chuckled as he picked the boy up along with a battered Felicia and carried them both back to town for medical treatment. The council would be interested in hearing what had happened.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Sand Splash:** The user crouches low to the ground and kicks up a mass of dirt/soil combined with energy/chakra. This move can stop most projectiles and the power and range of it varies depending on how much energy/chakra is put into it. It is mostly used by darkstalkers who have no problem being low to the ground and/or walking on all fours.

**Rolling Buckler:** The user curls themselves into a ball and rolls like a wheel at high speeds. They also harden their body with energy/chakra into order to increase traction, control, and damage. When they reach their target, they uncurl, plant their feet on the ground like a spring board, and using the momentum gained from rolling, deliver a powerful uppercut. Usually used by bestial type darkstalkers because they can harden their fur/scales/hides with energy/chakra into a flexible armor and also because their bodies are more flexible then most others, allowing them to do this easy.

**Rolling Bucker Reverse:** Same as the Rolling Bucker technique only instead of rolling forward, the user goes backwards and instead of an uppercut, they can deliver a powerful kick instead.

**Delta Kick:** A powerful aerial strike involving three rapid, well-placed kicks, one after another. Usually used by those with a movement based fighting style.

**Henge:** A simple illusion where the user wraps themselves in energy/chakra in order to take on the appearance of someone or something else.

**Kawarimi:** A simple technique that replaces the user with a nearby object when they are attacked and hides it in an illusion made to look like them. Used to avoid attack and confuse the opponent.

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Human**

**Sub Type: ****Varies (Meaning that this group can belong to several subtypes)**

**Darkhunters:** Many creatures from Makai have already flowed into the human world. Many of these creatures have high values for humans for items used as decorations, materials that don't exist in the human world such as the liquid and blood from the internal organs, and research for bio weapons and such. The demand for them is very high. The job of the Darkhunter was born to meet the demand for these clients.

These hunters track down these monsters and get the reward money corresponding to the creature they hunt. The risk level is very high but the reward is just as high. Because they hunt the creatures of the night, failure is not an option. Failing would mean one thing, death. To fight against these Darkstalkers, merely having a fit body, martial arts skills, and fire arms are not enough. It is possible for a Class C creature to kill an entire army of first class elite soldiers, though that is under specific conditions. A strong mind and spirit is also needed to keep one self from losing their own sanity is needed. And a dark heart is needed so that they are not poisoned with the aura that the creatures give off.

Several hundred Darkhunters are said to exist in the world. Their skills vary greatly from hunter to hunter. Some of these hunters can barely kill a wild beast from Makai, let alone a Darkstalker. However, due to the coming problems with the sun, many Darkhunters have decided that in order to survive, they have chosen to join up with other human groups. While they don't like darkstalkers, they are willing to tolerate them for the good of all and more importantly, themselves.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 6: Keys

In a large room at a circular table sat the council. This council was made up of the heads of various human and darkstalker groups. The council included but was not limited to Felicia of the Catwomen, Jon Talbain of the Werewolves, Rikuo of the Mermen, Sasquatch of the Yeti, Zabel Raptor of the Undead, Demitri and Morrigan Maximof of the Demon Aristocracy, Anakaris of the Desert, Vee of the Nether leafs, E-Bee of the Spirit Bees, and Donovan Baine of the Darkhunters. In front of them standing were the two main leaders of the humans both of whom were powerful sparks, Agatha Heterodyne Wulfenbach and her husband Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. In the center of the circular table was a specific Key, the crystal kunai. Since the incident with Bulleta, Naruto, and this Key, the council had been called to discuss the events and possible solution to their problems. Jon Talbain was the first to break the silence. "So what have you found?" he asked seriously.

Agatha took a breath before starting. "From what we've found, this knife is definitely a Key and not a normal one. While most Keys simply link the human world and the demon world, this one doesn't. It links this human world to another human world, one very different from this and in a lot better condition from what Jon and the others described. We already have an amplifier for it and can create a portal big enough to transport all the refugees here to the new world," she explained simply.

Zabel Raptor, a powerful zombie with a known affinity for rock 'n' roll spoke up before she could continue. "Well what're we waiting for then? Let's fire that puppy up and move out!" he exclaimed.

Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, more commonly known as Gil, shook his head. "Not that simple I'm afraid. This thing is attuned to just one specific being's energy."

Felicia was the first to realize who he was talking about. "That red energy Naruto used?" she guessed. Gil nodded. "But that's means he is a darkstalker, right?" she asked as she was still unsure of what the boy was. It was a question they had all been dying to have answered.

Agatha sighed before speaking. "Yes and no. While he's recovering from the fight, Gil and I examined him like you asked us to see just exactly what he was. What we found was rather surprising. It seems Naruto isn't a complete darkstalker but he's definitely not human, not anymore at any rate."

The vampire lord Demitri raised an eyebrow, "Explain."

Agatha nodded. "It seems the boy is not a darkstalker, but a container of one. When we examined him we found a strange seal on his stomach. After further testing we found it to be a highly advanced containment seal for a very high level darkstalker, at least on par with even Demitri, Morrigan, or even Donovan. That red power you saw belonged to the darkstalker, not Naruto, not completely anyway. Given the condition he was in, I would say the sight of Felicia being in mortal danger triggered something and forced him to bring out the demonic power. From what we found, the seal is designed to feed any excess power from the darkstalker into the boy and mix with his normal human power. Only this red power from the sealed darkstalker can activate the Key."

"That will make things little bit harder. Considering the boy's age and the fact that he probably doesn't even know what that power is, it will be hard for him to call up that power to activate the Key," Rikuo said quietly.

"It gets worse," Gil said, getting everyone's attention. "The seal is designed to merge the two, giving Naruto dominance, over a span of decades. For him to use the power now to any higher levels then what he did, could either kill the boy or break the seal which would also result in him dying."

Everyone was silent at this. They had a way to survive, to escape this dying world, but the Key to that escape was useless and by the time they would be able to use it the world would be dead. It was then Anakaris broke the silence. "Would it be possible to accelerate the process of the seal? Make him a complete darkstalker? Would he then be able to use the Key sufficiently without killing himself?" the mummy rumbled.

Agatha and Gil looked at each other in thought before Gil spoke. "It's … possible. The only problem I foresee is that it's still too much power for a child to handle right away. Even if he became the same type of darkstalker as the one sealed inside him, it would still be way too much," the spark explained.

Morrigan nodded. "Yes, I had a similar problem with my power when I was born. To keep me from coming into it too early, my father took a large piece of my power and soul and sealed it away until I was ready to handle it. Surprisingly this power became my "sister" Lilith and while we can merge for greater power, we usually don't need to. Could we do something similar with the boy?" the succubus suggested calmly, absently smiling at the thought of her sister who had been miffed that she couldn't attend this meeting.

Agatha shook her head. "No we can't due to the very nature of the seal. It was designed to keep all of the darkstalker's power inside Naruto, only to be let out when he willed it or if he died which would then cause the creature to die as well. Trying something like that would very likely fail."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Felicia spoke up. "What if we modified the seal itself to hold the excess power? That way it'd still be inside Naruto, but it wouldn't be able to overload him until he was able to handle it." The all looked at each other considering the suggestion. They all nodded, liking the idea since it would be best for everyone involved and really, what choice did they have? Felicia smiled before asking, "Where is Naruto now?"

Naruto woke up slowly. His eyes were greeted by the sight of storm clouds once again with the floating cubes. The only difference from before was that the purple clouds seemed to be slightly more prominent then before. The boy looked around confused until he heard a slight rumbling sound. He looked around in the vastness of where he was trying to find the source of the sound. In the distance he could see a massive patch of black clouds with a familiar gate showing in the front of it. The loud rumblings were coming from that thing. "How do I get over there though?" he asked out loud. No sooner had he said it then the various floating cubes started to join together, creating a bridge right for the mass of black clouds. Seeing nowhere else to go, Naruto started walking towards the cage. As he got closer the rumblings became lower, gentler almost. When he finally got to the cage, two massive burning red eyes and an equally massive grinning mouth of teeth appeared. The longer Naruto stared at the colossal creature, the brighter and clearer its image became. Soon he could make out what the thing was. It was an animal, a large fox with dark red fur that looked almost like it was burning. Behind the creature, the five-year-old could make out one, two, three … five … seven … nine tails all swaying casually behind it. Nine-tails why did that seem familiar to him? He walked forward and looked the beast right in the eye as it did to him. "Who … what are you?" the boy asked cautiously but unafraid.

"I am Kyuubi," the massive red beast rumbled, somewhat impressed that this child was not afraid of it. However, this could be chalked up to what this boy had already gone through and the fact that he now lived with demons and creatures just like it. The two just stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move and break the silence.

The blonde's mind seemed to be processing something as he stared at the massive creature. He was trying to remember why this creature was so familiar to him. It was then he remembered the numerous taunts he had received back in Konoha. A number of them included words such as "monster", "demon", and interestingly "kitsune". "You're the reason why everyone hated me, aren't you?" he half asked half stated. The great beast nodded calmly, not wanting to scare the child as he was its only link to the outside world. "Why?" he asked simply with the voice of a child wanting desperately to understand while on the verge of tears.

The crimson beast sighed. "I cannot tell you that now child. When you're older and able to understand, then I'll tell you. The most I can tell you is that when I attacked your village years ago and became sealed inside you, I did not have a choice in the matter. In any case child, I am not your enemy and I apologize for the pain that I've caused you," the fox rumbled. Naruto just stared, still unafraid of the beast as he silently looked over the creature before breaking into a small smile. 'What a strange kit.'

The blonde began to stir as he woke up. He was in a white room, a hospital. As his senses returned, he absently tried to sit up only to find that something, or rather two things were weighing him down. He looked down at his chest to see to small balls of black fluff, one with a bit of blue and the other red. The boy smiled and started to lightly scratch the two kittens who purred in their sleep. Hearing the door open, the boy turns and is surprised to see a normal human woman enter the room. She was shorter then Felicia by about half a foot, had long blonde hair like his, and a pair of large glasses. She was dressed in a way that marked her as a traveler and survivor. At least she appeared human at first sight until he noticed something strange about her. She reeked of metal and weird chemicals, though not unpleasantly. "Hello Naruto, I'm Agatha and how are you feeling?" she asked kindly.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before answering. "A little tired and hungry," he answered honestly. The woman smiled before handing him a biscuit that she had brought with her. The boy ate it ravenously.

"Now Naruto, there's something very important I need to discuss with you," the woman said in an even tone. The boy looked up curious and at attention. "Naruto, you know this world is falling apart correct?" she asked. The boy nodded. "Now, the place you came from was much different wasn't it? Can you tell me what it was like?" she asked kindly.

The boy thought for a moment before speaking. "It was cleaner. You could see the sun and there were forests everywhere. And there were lots of animals and rivers and …" Agatha held up a hand, signaling him to stop.

"Okay Naruto you see all of us, that is all the darkstalkers and people here at the talks and more want to go to your world because this one is nearly dead. However to do that we need your help," she explained gently.

"How can I help?" the boy asked confused. He had no idea how a kid like him could help so many people.

Agatha smiled warmly at the boy. "Do you remember that diamond knife you had?" The boy nodded. "That knife can create a gate that can take us all back to your world. Thing is, you're the only one that can make it work because you have something really special inside you," she said kindly.

The boy tilted his head to the side. "Does this have something to do with the fox?" he asked curiously.

Agatha's eyes widened in curiosity and prompted him to continue. Naruto then proceeded to tell her about the strange place full of storm clouds and finding the cage with the nine-tailed fox inside. The spark's eyes widened at the description of the giant red beast with burning fur and nine powerful tails. She nodded to the boy. "Yes it does. That fox is a darkstalker and a powerful one from the sound of it. It was sealed inside you, why or how I don't know. However we do know that it is the fox's power that activates the gate and as its jailor you're the only one who can bring it out. Problem is that if you use too much you'll hurt yourself, maybe even die," she explained solemnly. Naruto stared at her wide eyed. When he had used the power, he had been so angry that he hadn't noticed anything else other then taking Bulleta down hard. "There is a way to solve all of this, but it'll require a sacrifice on your part," she said carefully.

"A sacrifice?" the boy asked half afraid half curious. He knew these people were far more accepting of him then Konoha but they were also desperate and desperate people were scary people.

Agatha smiled warmly at him to help ease whatever fears he may have. "Don't worry, we're not going to kill you or even hurt you in any way. The sacrifice I mean is that in order for you to use the power of the fox, Kyuubi was it freely you would need to give up being human." The blonde boy's eyes widened. "We have the ability to change you into a darkstalker, a demon fox to be exact, so that you could use its power as you like without having to worry about it hurting you." She stopped and let her words sink in, giving the boy time to think a little.

Naruto spoke quietly, "So I'd be like Felicia and Jon?"

Agatha blinked at him confused for a moment before answering. "Well, yes I think so. You'd be the same type and sub type but a different species, a fox instead of a cat or wolf. But if we change you, you'll never be able to be human again. Do you understand?" she said seriously, making sure the boy knew all that was involved in this. While she wanted desperately for him to accept, she was not about to force something like this on a five-year old. The boy nodded and seemed thoughtful about everything.

Naruto was silent as he mulled over what he had been told. He had the chance to help everyone and see his home again. But, he'd have to give up being human. 'Well, would that really be so bad?' he asked himself silently. It wouldn't change who he was would it? He'd still be Naruto and really, being like Felicia and Jon wouldn't be bad at all. They were great people and strong too. Besides, these people were kind and saved him when his own village had tried to kill him, he owed them big time. He looked at Agatha in the eyes, determination evident in them. "I'll do it."

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Human**

**Sub Type:**** Genetic (Meaning they are born with this)**

**Sparks: **Sparks are special humans who have an inborn genius level talent for the realms of science. Sparks are rare and it is difficult to find out who is one before a Breakthrough. A Breakthrough is when the spark's intelligence hits them practically all at once. This can happen at ANY age. Some like Agatha Heterodyne can Breakthrough as early as age 5. Breakthroughs are usually traumatic and cause the spark to go into a fit of creation and destruction. This is how many sparks die, either from their own creations or their own madness.

Though it is unknown what makes a spark a spark, it is known that it only happens in humans. It does not happen in darkstalkers. While it is possible for darkstalkers to gain a lesser version of it, such as heightened intelligence or ability, they cannot have the full form of the spark. The only exception to this rule is when a human is turned into a darkstalker and survives. Many times, sparks turned into darkstalkers die from madness as the spark is not very compatible with darkstalker instincts and can literally tear a person physically and mentally to pieces. As a result of this and the trauma involved with the spark Breakthrough, Agatha Heterodyne has developed a special mental restraint that can be worn as a necklace or broach. It prevents the spark from fully manifesting during and after a Breakthrough, making it difficult for the wearer to think and concentrate properly. It is designed to "ease" them into it, removing the trauma and making it less dangerous. It does have side effects such as sleep building, where the spark builds things in their sleep based on their conscious wishes. It should be noted that anyone else who is not a spark wearing the device will suffer death from mental shutdown.

Another thing that is known is that it is definitely a genetic trait. If someone's mother or father was a spark, chances are the child will be a spark as well, usually on equal level to that of the parent. However, if two sparks conceive then the child has the potential to surpass both parents. It should also be noted the theory, construction, and thinking styles can be hereditary as well. It the case of being the child of two sparks, the results will be mixed.

Sparks are well respected by both humans and darkstalkers despite creeping out both groups at times. They can enter a state known as "spark madness" where they work obsessively on whatever project is at hand. In this state they are really touchy, can be angered easily, and will turn on just about anyone until calmed. Combine this with the type of things they can create, they are treated with extreme caution. It is also good to note to never tick off a spark as they can attain payback in many interesting and (quite frankly) disturbing ways.

Another important quirk about sparks is something called "spark overdrive". This state is only achieved when a spark is given stimulants, ANY stimulants. This state is similar to spark madness in that the spark in question goes on an insane creation spree, remodeling, fixing, or inventing whatever is necessary given the current situation. This can be anything from creating advanced and intricate, tactical battle machines out of whatever is lying around to taking apart, rebuilding, and upgrading a coffee machine. In this state they are less insane and more … enthusiastic. They will still give orders and such but they will not get angry as easily as well as retain their personality more. Their thinking, movement, and speech will all be accelerated greatly in this state, by a minimum of five-times. They will correct any minor problems they come in contact with in this state, such as correcting spelling mistakes in a manual during research or repairing a tool so they can continue on. It should also be noted that while in "overdrive", a spark will tend to string together whole sentences into one word, making it difficult to understand them in this state. Spark overdrive usually starts immediately after the stimulants have been administered, with the spark slowing down as they wear off, eventually returning to normal speed and personality, though they will still want to finish whatever they started during the beginning of the overdrive.

A major drawback of spark overdrive is that the spark in question will ignore everything else except for the task at hand and anything related to it. No orders, threats, or anything will deter them from what they're doing, whereas with spark madness you can snap them out of it (at your own risk). They will even ignore sleep, food, and other such necessities in order to finish whatever they started, or at least until the stimulant wears off, whichever comes first. Another drawback is that prolonged spark overdrive can cause serious mental strain on a spark, much like working a machine beyond its normal capacity too long. Eventually the spark will shut down for awhile, unable to do more then basic thought. How long a spark can stay in overdrive depends on how strong the spark is; the stronger the spark, the longer they can stay in overdrive.

It's important to note that the stronger the stimulant, the longer spark overdrive lasts and the faster the spark in question is enhanced. Also, the stronger the spark, the longer and more intense the overdrive is. A whole cup of normal coffee, black, for an average level spark will last about two to three hours. A Heterodyne espresso special, regardless of the spark's level, will last about three days nonstop minimum.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 7: Evolution

Naruto lay on a table, surrounded by machines and various strange items. Near him, Agatha, Gil, Donovan Baine, and the twin sorcerer sisters Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling were working to change him into the same type of darkstalker as the nine tailed fox. To do this, they took samples of blood from both Jon Talbain and Felicia as their darkstalker types were the closest to what they were attempting to change Naruto into. Their plan was to use this machine in conjunction with the modified blood to accelerate the process of the seal and using complex spells to reshape it into a restraint of sorts for the excess power. Right now they were setting up for the attempt, making sure everything was in order, having only one real shot at this.

Felicia was there as well next to him, holding his much smaller hand in her soft paw. Despite agreeing to this, Naruto was still a five year old and was scarred of all of this. Having someone familiar, and quite frankly the closest thing to a mother he had ever had, was a definite comfort. Gil was nice, though formal at times. It was the same with Mei-Ling though her sister Hsien-Ko was friendlier and out going. Donovan was quiet and respectful, much like old man Hokage back in Konoha. The only one who he wasn't sure about was the little girl about his age that had come with Donovan. She had long brown hair tied in braids, was a little shorter then him, and wore a blue and white dress with a big red bow tie. She had a vacant look in her eyes and didn't say much if anything as she watched the procedure, holding her headless doll close to her.

Agatha came up to Naruto holding a breathing mask. "Naruto, we're going to put you to sleep to make this all easier. Hopefully you won't feel a thing until this is done." The boy nodded and lay back as the spark put the mask over his face. His eyes drooped and soon the boy was sleeping quietly. She turned to the others waiting. "Let's begin. Transfer all power to the DNA re-sequencer. Hsien-Ko, Mei-Ling, Donavon, I need you to begin modifying the seal," they all nodded and went to work. Gil and Agatha began working on the machines, the ghost, the Chinese vampire, and the dhampir all began chanting around the sleeping boy.

Felicia watched intently as the seal containing the powerful fox darkstalker appeared and started to glow with fiery, red power. Nearby, four transistors started to glow a similar color as the tubes containing blood from Jon and Felicia were drained into the transistors. The energy building in the transistors suddenly shot out, connecting with energy in the seal, creating four tethers of power. The boy's body arced as the burning red glow now covered his whole body. The chanting became louder as black energy formed around their hands. The energy expanded, creating a black sphere around the boy that was sustained by the three. Gil and Agatha rushed around to control the energy flow, releasing pressure valves, watching gauges, and stabilizing the whole process. The catwoman struggled against her instinct to run up and grab Naruto and hold him close as her eyes remained glued to the boy. Her eyes widened as Naruto's form started to change.

First, the marks on his cheeks lengthened and thickened to look more like three burning slash marks on each side of his face. Next came the fur, his whole body was covered in a light coat of fur in a way similar to the catwoman's. The fur and his hair were a blend of black, red, orange, and dark yellow, giving it a look similar to fire. After the fur settled, the boy's hands and feet began to change. His feet alter to look more like the hind legs of a fox, similar to Jon's when he was in werewolf form, widening and finishing off with a set of claws. His hands took on a similar appearance to hers, enlarging and becoming more paw-like and being adorned with golden-yellow claws. Next his face seemed to change. His ears elongated into black tipped fox ears and moved to the top of his head. The last change came with the sound of his pants ripping in the back. A semi-fluffy fox tail erupted from the base of his spine, covered in fire colored fur with a black tip. As the final change settled, the black sphere of energy shrunk and settled itself where the seal was. The seal glowed black as it changed. The spiral remained, but the eight trigram seal around it changed dramatically. Instead of the two four part seals, one above and one below the central spiral, a single circle seal appeared. It had eight extensions from it in a compass like pattern, each extension extending out a short ways in a design unique to each extension. Once the process was complete, Naruto relaxed and instinctively curled up into a ball while hugging his new tail close.

Gil looked over the gauges as Agatha carefully examined the seal on Naruto's stomach. Donovan and the two sisters sat down drained from remaking the seal. Felicia waited, though it was much more difficult now then before. Agatha turned to the others, "It seems to have worked but we won't know for sure until the transformation settles how effective it was." Without a word, Anita climbed up and stared at the boy turned fox darkstalker. It was impossible to see what was in her eyes or to know what she was looking for. After a moment she reached out and started to scratch behind one of his ears gently. He began to let out a low purr of sorts as his tail twitched a little. Felicia just smiled like as if she were a Cheshire cat just before she ran up to collect her Kit.

Naruto slept soundly in the hospital with someone checking on him regularly as well as being monitored by various machines and fed through an IV. His body was still recovering from the transformation. However, the silence of the room was broken when someone walked into the room. It was a man with white hair and equally white eyes. He wore a completely black suit with the trademark white collar of a priest. He held a large silver cross in one hand and a thick book in the other. The look on his face spoke of a man on a deliberate mission and would not let anyone or anything stand in his way. The blind man made his way forward, stopped, and seemed to look right at the sleeping boy. "Poor child. Turned into a being of the Dark only to benefit those monsters and allow them to infect an innocent world. Fear not, I will not let you suffer this fate," he said as he raised his cross, seeming to aim it at the unconscious kitsune. The cross began to glow a white light, charging up for an attack to kill the boy and seal all the refugees' fate. However before it could complete, the door to the room exploded. He turned to find a couple of low class demons, both animalistic in appearance and dressed like common thugs.

One of them spoke in a growling type voice. "I wouldn't do that mate. The Bosital family is willing to pay a lot for that brat, but only if he's alive. He won't be worth anything if we let you waste the kid." With that the creatures attacked. Reacting quickly, the priest turned his cross onto the creature, releasing a _Spear of Light_ right at them. He was able to hit one of the demons with the attack, but the second was able to bum rush him right through the wall and out into the open. The priest knocked the demon away and attempted another _Spear of Light_ when a sharp cry was heard. The looked up to see a large flying black serpent creature come down and head right for the hole in the wall where Naruto was just walking out of.

Naruto had woken up due to the loud crash. He was still groggy and not too sure what was going on. He hadn't even really noticed how his body had changed. However, he snapped to full attention when he saw the serpent creature flying right at him. Without thinking he immediately started running on all fours away from the creature. The serpent went after the little fox, quickly catching up. It opened its massive jaws, its forked tongue extending to capture the boy. However, the creature never got the chance as another fighter entered the scene. From high above, a woman in a black suit, black coat, brown boots, a white shirt with frills, long blonde hair, a large metal cylinder device strapped to her back, and a large black hat with a red rim, came flying down holding what looked like a really large ship anchor. The woman smirked as she came down like a meteor, using the anchor like a war hammer right on the serpent's forehead. Needless to say, it hurt like a bitch and the creature had its skull crushed. Naruto stopped to look at the one who had saved him. The woman had her right eye covered with her other being a bright ruby red. She smiled at him before turning to the two demon punks and the blind priest. "So, ye bilge rats would kidnap a child for those barnacles ye call lords? Ye be pathetic," the woman snarled.

The demon that had been initially hit by the priest's attack snarled as he came out of the damaged room. "Damn it, it's that pirate bitch! Ruby Heart!" he cried as he flew right at her. Bad idea.

The pirate scowled. "That's Admiral Heart to you, landlubber!" she cried as she quickly dropped the anchor, unhooked the cannon from her back, and blew the demon at point blank range. She then aimed at the priest and other demon. The priest dove out of the way while the demon was blown back to hell. The priest cautiously got up. Despite being blind, he knew that one wrong move and he'd be blown away as easily. This woman was not known to suffer fools or anyone she considered fools. "Make ye move … Brother Michael," she snarled as she leveled her cannon at him.

The blind priest scowled. "It seems you have me at a disadvantage. I will purify that child before he can open the portal and allow the dark ones to infest an innocent world," he declared.

The pirate only smirked. "So ye say, but not today. Now, off with ye before I splatter you all over the landscape," she threatened. The priest nodded and ran before reinforcements could arrive. The woman grinned again and strapped the cannon to her back again, picked up her anchor, and turned towards the fox boy who was shocked at what he had seen. "So Kit, lets get you back to ye parents, kay?" she said calmly. Naruto just nodded still amazed at this woman and the fact that she could lift that anchor so easily. It had to weigh at least a couple tons! Before he could ask however, she looked up over him and he did the same. His eyes widened at the sight of a flying ship! What a way to wake up. Before he could ponder on it some more however, Felicia came running up and scooped him up hugging him tightly, worried to death since she had heard the explosion and the fighting. The pirate woman just laughed at the scene.

Naruto sat quietly as he looked at his own hands … claws. God did his body feel weird at the moment. He was still getting used to the sensation of having fur and a tail. His senses were also enhanced and he was having a little trouble controlling them. He kept hearing and smelling all sorts of things and it was disconcerting to say the least. Right now he was being looked over by Agatha with Anita and Leon watching nearby. Felicia, who he was starting to think of as his mother, was talking with a couple of the council members including Jon, Donovan, and the pirate lady Ruby Heart. He could hear what they were talking about despite not understanding all of it.

"It seems some of the demon nobles do not want us all to leave," the dhampir said solemnly. Despite what had happened he was not surprised. The demon nobles were known to be control freaks and currently controlled a good amount of what few resources were left in this world. With all the refugees leaving, they would lose the population who would most use the resources and thus be useful to them, leaving them with very little.

The pirate nodded with a frown on her face. "Aye, that being the case, until the boy can learn to control his new instincts and powers enough to use the Key, we're dead in the water mate," she said simply. Ruby Heart may have been a bloodthirsty and ruthless pirate and the leader of the largest pirate group ever to exist, but that didn't mean squat in a dying world that had barely anything worth stealing. Now a new world on the other hand was a far more desired target then the piece of slag this world had become.

Felicia sighed, knowing where this was going. "Then I'll have Jon begin training Naruto in controlling his new form and power immediately. With any luck, given Naruto's learning curve, we should be ready to leave within a month or so. We'll also need to organize a scouting party to go to Naruto's world and plant and anchor for the Key, otherwise there's no telling where we'll end up. Admiral Heart, we'll need you to organize EVERYONE to be ready to leave when we open the large portal. The Key won't last long under that type of strain even with the amplifier."

Jon was the next to speak. "There's also the matter of the demon nobles and any other hunters who might be crazy enough to come after the boy before he can do that. The nobles will want to control him while the hunters want him dead. Brother Michael was just the first. We'll have to buff up security until we're able to leave. That's not going to be easy given everything going on," the werewolf said seriously.

The blonde haired pirate was the one to offer an answer. "Then train the boy on me ship. It would be well protected from attack and I can vouch for every member of the crew. He'd be safe until de time he was needed. No one would be daft enough to attack the Storm Breaker," Ruby Heart declared confidently.

The werewolf nodded. "Agreed. The fewer chances we take the better we all will be. I just hope things will go smoother once we get there," he said as he looked at the fox boy who was now scratching his ear with his hind foot. "Our very existence relies on that kid."

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Human**

**Sub Type: ****Developed (Meaning they are trained to be come this, not born)**

**Priests/Priestesses:** These are humans who contain high amounts of spiritual or holy type power. This power usually aligned to the element of light and is holy/sacred in nature. This power is the opposite of the power of the Dark that Darkstalkers usually contain and use. It should be noted that the power of the Dark and the power of the Light are naturally equal they will cancel each other out as long as the two are at an EXACTLY equal level. Should one or the other be even the slightest bit higher, that side will overtake the other. It is also possible for one to be infected and overtaken by the other. Otherwise, the two will naturally repel the other. The power of Light tends to be more passive then that of the Dark, but can be no less lethal to normal people when used in high amounts.

This power is not in born and must be gained through training and experience. So far only humans, angels, and similar beings of light have the spirit, will, and capability to gain and use this power. Priest and priestesses are humans who have trained hard to gain this power. Very often their power is much more potent then when it is found naturally in other creatures such as angels. They usually dress in sacred clothes relative to their culture. The same for any weapons they may use. Personality wise they are usually kind and or soft spoken. However, they tend to view ANYTHING even related to the power of the Dark as needing immediate purification, which can sometimes means its destruction. As a result, many darkstalkers and normal people see priests and priestesses as no better then Hunters. Though not all of them are like this and a few have been known to befriend darkstalkers.

When a person containing the holy power of the Light is turned into or attempted to be turned into a darkstalker, one of four things will happen depending on the person, the level of Light they have, and the type of the darkstalker. The first, if the Light isn't that strong, the person will become a darkstalker with some additional pain as the Light is overtaken by the Dark. Second, if the Light is strong enough, the change will be prevented and the person will stay the same though it will hurt like a bitch. The last two can occur if the Light and Dark are equal. More often then not, the conflicting powers will cause a violent reaction as each tries to dominate the other, usually leading to an extremely painful death. The last result is ungodly rare but it has happened. The two powers will balance, causing the person in question to be able to use both equally. However that person must maintain that balance or else the powers start to get violent with each other.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 8: Into the fox hole

Naruto sat in a meditative position as he tried to call up the energy of the Kyuubi. Now that he was a fox just like the darkstalker sealed inside him he found he had a number of new abilities. For one, he found he had four different forms, all of which he got from Jon and Felicia. First was his quarter form, where he looked the most human, except more animalistic, like Jon in his human form. No ears, tail, fur, or claws in this form but it did allow him to mold chakra much easier then any of his other forms. He was stronger and faster then most other humans, but it was still his "weakest" form. Next was his halfway form which was what he looked like immediately following the change. In this form he was most like Felicia in her humanoid form. This was the form he spent the majority of his time in and was comfortable in. Also in this form, his instincts were more apparent, but not to an extreme degree. His third form was his feral form, where he because a much larger anthropomorphic kitsune similar to Jon werewolf form. His hands became far more claw like, his senses, strength, speed, and power all increased dramatically. However, this form had its drawbacks in that it was much harder to mold and control chakra properly then in his two other humanoid forms. Also, his instincts were more influential in this form, but he was still able to keep control for the most part. His last form came from Felicia, his fox form. Like Felicia who could turn into a "normal" cat, he could turn into a full fox with the same fire colored fur as always. This form wasn't his most powerful, but it was definitely the fastest and stealthiest. Also his senses were at their height in this form and allowed him to find things that he would miss in his other three forms. However, this form had its disadvantages as well. For one, it was nearly impossible for him to mold chakra, mostly due to the fact that he had no hands/claws to do seals with. This was a problem was common with any darkstalker with an animal form. The other was that his instincts were at their strongest and were extremely hard to control. Overall though, the procedure had been a success in that the blonde boy could now access Kyuubi's power far easier now.

The kitsune boy was also now able to access its power with far less dire effects. For one, it didn't harm his body and with the new seal on his stomach, it wouldn't overload him either. That's not to say it wasn't difficult. Despite now being compatible, it was not easy for the child to call up at will the power necessary to activate the key and keep a decent sized sustained portal. The longest he had been able to hold it steady was about 15 minutes before he got tired and the portal failed. To help keep the portal open longer, Agatha was also with him and attempting to duplicate his power without much luck. The most she could do was allow the portal to stay open an extra few minutes before the portal collapsed. While the amplifier they created could increase the actual size of the portal, it could not increase the duration. There was also the problem of the key opening up the gate at random locations in Naruto's home world. Of course that would be fixed soon enough.

Jon Talbain and a small group of darkstalkers were getting ready to go through the portal and plant an anchor for the crystal kunai. They would have a week to find a suitable location and plant the anchor before Naruto would open the portal again. If they failed, Naruto would simply wait another week before attempting it again. They would do this for a month before sending in another team, though most doubted that would be necessary. With Jon was Donovan who had the training and knowledge necessary to secure the anchor, Lucy the catwoman due to her survival and tracking abilities, along with the former hunters Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. They all stood ready on the pirate ship with a number of pirates watching in interest.

The sky ship they were on was massive, and that was putting it lightly. The aptly named Storm Breaker was about one and a half times the size of an ocean liner and one and quarter as wide. It had numerous black sails both above it and on its sides like wings. It was divided into four parts, the main part which was the longest and where the main sails stood, two lower side parts that were about one-fourth the length of the whole ship that held the side sails, and a lower center part directly under the main part with all four connected to one another. The back of the ship was huge, about five stories tall with multiple rooms and areas in it. A large array of cannons and weapons were also outfitted on the Storm Breaker, marking it as a powerful ship of war. High above stood a black flag with the emblem of a red hallow jagged heart with a pair of swords under it and a skull inside it, indicating that this ship belonged to the pirate Ruby Heart. The Storm Breaker was her flag ship. All around it were smaller sky ships that were under her command and while faster and more agile then the Storm Breaker, none could match its pure strength or firepower. It was also the safest place to conduct any training for Naruto or experiments with the crystal kunai as no one would be dumb enough to attack this ship. Actually, that was only partially true. It was the safest place, but there were a few demons whom were that dumb and a couple holy fanatics that crazy who had attacked, either by stowing away or on a small ship. None of them even got close and were killed quickly. Those that weren't killed and were captured faced death, sky pirate style, to act as a warning. Needless to say, watching someone get shot overboard out of a cannon at 6,000 feet in the air and have them used as target practice for the smaller ships while they were going down was a good deterrent for anyone who thought of attacking and surviving the attempt.

Inside the cargo hold of the ship, Naruto sat lotus style while holding the crystal kunai in his hands. Next to him was the small group ready to venture to Naruto's home world. Just behind them, Ruby, Agatha, Gil, Leon, Ria, Mia, and Anita all stood watching intently. The blonde fox boy nodded and began to concentrate hard on the immense power of Kyuubi. Around him the aura of crimson started to appear, faded at first but then grew in intensity. Soon the burning aura was very much visible and starting to transfer into the Key. The key started to glow and soon the portal opened to Naruto's world. This time, it showed a wooded area with what looked like a beach not far from the portal's location. Agatha turned to her instruments for a moment before turning to the group getting ready to go through. "Okay, looks like you're all set. You'll have a week to set up the anchor before we open the portal again. Good luck," she said simply as the five darkstalkers go through the portal before it closes. Felicia looks on and sighs, hoping that they all would stay safe.

Jon stood up along with Lucy, Donovan, Mei-Ling, and Hsien-Ko. The trip hadn't been bad but the landing could have used work. None of them were damaged as they looked around. Lucy was already sniffing around, trying to get an idea of where they were by the scents around them. Mei-Ling and her sister instead walked over into the middle of the road and were looking straight up at the sky. The werewolf couldn't blame them, as the sky was the purest blue, with a few puffy white clouds here and there along with something that even he himself had not truly seen until recent years, the sun. It seems Naruto's description, while simple, was accurate. Still they had a job to do and couldn't stop to enjoy the scenery. "All right everyone, we need to get moving. We only have a week to find a good place to plant the anchor and we don't know how long it'll take us to find one," the werewolf said seriously.

"Oh lighten up Johnny boy, that's plenty of time to find a spot to plant a rock. Since we're here we might as well enjoy the scenery a little," Lucy said playfully as she noticed a butterfly nearby that was just asking to be chased around.

The dhampir sighed before speaking. "It is not that simple. The anchor needs to be placed at a leyline intersection for it to work properly and those may be miles apart," he said in a calm rational tone.

"Killjoy," muttered the catwoman before speaking up. "And just how are we supposed to find an intersection? Those things ain't exactly something you find everyday." The catwoman absently yawned as she spoke, the sunlight having a natural effect on her of making her sleepy. It was the same with almost all darkstalkers with the current exception of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling.

The two sisters stared up at the sky, specifically the sun. Memories of old fluttered through their minds. Memories of their mother who sacrificed herself to stop a horde of darkstalkers while damning her own soul in the process. She had used a spell, a forbidden spell of immense power to do it, however something didn't go exactly right. The spell had been altered by an outside force and thus her soul was lost. That outside source had been what many called the Burning Comet, though a more accurate name would be Pyron's Comet. That damn comet was actually a being of burning energy named Pyron who caused the entire energy flow of their world to become unstable. That had only added to the problems. The two of them had tracked that damned creature for over 200 years as hunters of the Dark. They themselves had used a similar forbidden spell as their mother, but gained far different results. Mei-Ling had become a spirit priestess due to her greater mastery of spells then her sister. Hsien-Ko on the other hand had been transformed into a Kuang Shi, more commonly known as a Chinese vampire, and an advanced one at that. Looking up at the sun, which was so similar and yet so different from the comet that had taken so much from them, it was hard not to associate the two. Shaking their heads in silent agreement, they returned to the group. "To answer your question, I'll be able to sense an intersection by following a leyline. If we move quickly we should be able to find one within a few days," Mei-Ling said calmly.

"Well then let's get this show on the road, where to first?" the catwoman asked while stretching, getting ready to move out. She watched as the yellow robed priestess made a hand seal and began chanting in a low voice. Lucy shivered, never having been at ease with magic. The power of the Dark and fighting techniques were one thing, but magic, real magic was something she knew very little about and was naturally weary of it.

Mei-Ling looked up from her trance and pointed towards the ocean. "There is an intersection that way. Not far from what I can tell," she said. All of them nodded and began running in that direction at a speed that would make many Jonin jealous. For Jon and Lucy, running on all fours was easy for them, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling were dead so their endurance was through the roof, and Donovan simply "surfed" on Dhylec, keeping up with all of them with ease. They stopped once the sun began to rise the next day, opting to get some sleep before they reached the shore. Jon and Lucy did their own hunting while Donovan just had some rations he brought with him. They didn't talk much, each of them thinking about what would happen once the mass migration happened. As far as Lucy was concerned, it would be a much needed change of scenery for everyone. Jon and Donovan were worried about what all those darkstalkers and refugee humans would do once they got here. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling were wondering how they were going to keep the peace. While most of the darkstalkers in newly formed refugee group were mostly peaceful, some of them could get quite … rowdy. There were also a few darkstalker types who naturally didn't get along with other certain types. Without proper enforcement, this world would be torn apart pretty quickly. They all eventually went to sleep for the day, deciding to get an early start before sundown.

They were up just before sun down and made their way towards the shore where Mei-Ling sensed the intersection they needed. Soon they arrived at the shore with another shore within sight across the water. "It's not far but it's on the other side," she said simply.

"And just how will we get across? I seriously doubt they'll rent a boat to a couple of dead people, a werewolf, a catwoman, and a dhampir monk," Hsien-Ko said sarcastically. Her sister just gave her a look to which the blue-skinned woman just smiled sweetly.

"If you think I'm going to swim in freezing cold water, forget it," Lucy said irritably. While catwomen didn't hate water, it didn't mean they went out of their way to go swimming, especially in ice cold water in the middle of the night. It made her black and gray fur bristle at the thought of it.

Jon sighed before speaking calmly. "Mei-Ling and I can rent a boat; Lucy can ride as our pet. Hsien-Ko and Donovan can fly over on Dhylec." They all agreed though Donovan wasn't sure about the odd smirk he was getting from the blue-skinned sorceress sister. They quickly went across though when Jon and Mei-Ling rented the boat they could see the man was in poor clothes. It was also then that Jon noticed the scent of death, decay, sewage, and just plain nastiness all around. Lucy meowed solemnly in her cat form as she noticed the stench as well. The boatman didn't say anything as he was an old man, but then he didn't need to. As soon as they landed, what they saw disturbed them. It was like seeing a reflection of what they had left behind. The town was in poor condition and many of the people looked like they were starving. "What happened here?" Jon asked absently as he, with Lucy walking next to him in her cat form, and Mei-Ling all looked around. Donovan and Hsien-Ko were following high above on Dhylec, unseen in the darkness but were able to see the desperation and decay from where they were, even in the pitch black night.

"Terrible, isn't it?" a voice behind them said. They turned to see an old man with gray hair, a gray beard, and glasses. Jon raised a suspicious eyebrow at the man while Mei-Ling just smiled. "You must be new in town. I'm Tazuna, the local construction guild supervisor, though there's not any construction to be done these days," he explained kindly to these two strangely dressed people and their cat. He had been going to a late night meeting with other merchants to see if anything could be done. Sadly, no one had been able to come up with anything.

The brown haired woman nodded kindly. "I am Mei-Ling and this in my friend Jon Talbain. We are … representatives of a large group of refugees who may be coming here soon. However, we are concerned about the state of this town. Would you please tell us what wrong here?" she asked kindly.

The man sighed before speaking. "It's like this all over Wave country. The local mob bosses keep everyone down by controlling trade as well as food supplies. I wouldn't recommend any of your people coming here. Maybe after I build a bridge to the mainland, but getting people to go along with it and getting the money for it has been hard. I don't think this would be the best place for refugees from any place, unless you think you can do something about the mob bosses?" he asked in a joking manner.

However, his laughter was cut short when both the yellow clothed woman and the animalistic looking man grinned, malicious, almost inhuman grins at him. In that instant he knew that these weren't ordinary people. He was even starting to doubt they were truly human. "I think, Mr. Tazuna, that we may be able to help you and Wave country," Mei-Ling said darkly.

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Any (Meaning they can be any type & sub type)**

**Sub Type: ****Developed**

**Sky Pirates:** Sky pirates are a notorious lot, even more so then their sea bound ancestors. As their name implies, sky pirates roam the sky instead of the sea on sky ships (to be defined in a later entry). This allows them access to just about anywhere in the world. It also gives them the powerful element of surprise. Sky pirates came into being the same way normal pirates did. When sky ships were developed and trade routs created, pirates adapted to sail the skies instead of the seas. Like normal pirates, they raid, pillage, and plunder any place at any time. They are ruthless, relentless, and more often then not insane. However, unlike their water bound ancestors, sky pirates are not limited to passing ships and will attack settlements, travelers, and anything else they think is worth looting.

Sky pirates are usually people who live off of excitement, adventure, and freedom. As a result, they come from many walks of life and many different species. However, the majority of them tend to be humans, bestial type, experimental type, and undead type darkstalkers. Sky pirates are an interesting lot, usually each have their own quirks about them. They tend to be loyal to their commanding officers as long as the officers in question have their respect. However, once that respect is lost, the officers run the risk of mutiny and holding respect can be tricky with darkstalkers.

The current leader of the largest group of sky pirates is Ruby Heart. No one is sure if she is human or merely a darkstalker in human form. The blonde haired black coated pirate has demonstrated incredible strength, powers, and fighting abilities but it is unknown if this is due to darkstalker heritage or to extreme human training. She is known to be cunning and ruthless and does not tolerate fools in the least. However she has been known to show compassion at times. Many consider her mad, but she apparently doesn't know or doesn't care, it has never been stated one way or another. With the world falling apart, she has joined the refugees in order to find a chance at a better life and hopefully new skies to sail.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 9: Hunters of the night

Gato ran as fast as he could, desperate to get to Konoha before nightfall. Gato was a powerful shipping magnate whose shipping company was actually a front for much shadier activities, such as smuggling illegal goods and dealing drugs. He took control of the land of Waves' shipping routes and created a monopoly by isolating the country from the outside world, preventing free import and export and turning it into an impoverished, hunger-stricken country in the process. He was a cruel, greedy man whom few cared for and even fewer could oppose. He was the crime boss in the land of Waves, one of the most powerful men in the country and now he was running like a child afraid of the dark.

It had started nearly two weeks ago. There he was ruling his little empire when suddenly he received word that one of the small town crime bosses and his gang who worked far below him had all been wiped out. Normally this wouldn't a big deal as he'd just buy off whoever took over or have them assassinated. However, what surprised him was how they were killed and by who or rather what. The report said that the entire gang of 200 men had been slaughtered within the same hour. What was truly strange is that they had all been killed by the same person, a woman. The description of the woman described her as being inhumanly beautiful, with emerald-green hair and burning, demonic eyes. She was said to have wings coming out of her head, razors out of her back, and a twisted smile on her face as she slaughtered all of the gang. That was just the beginning.

He started receiving reports of blood sucking humans, packs of wolves that walked like men, aquatic creatures rising out of the sea to attack, massive swarms of insect like humans, voracious plants, the dead coming to life, and even pirates falling from the sky. All of these things were attacking his gangs and operations, each attack wiping the target out in no more then an hour. Gato was not a brave man nor was he a stupid man. He knew he stood no chance against whatever the hell these things were. Gato's only hope for survival was to make it to Konoha and hire some ninjas to protect him before nightfall. It had to be before nightfall because that was when the attacks occurred. Soon he saw the gates and thanked whatever deity was listening. The Chunin guard who saw him run up was curious. "Halt, state your name and business in Konoha," he said forcefully.

Gato wheezed as he caught his breath. All his guards were dead so he had come alone with as much money and supplies as he could carry. "I am Gato and I'm here to see the Hokage. I need to hire some ninjas for a high class mission immediately," he said as calmly as possible, though it was hard as he kept looking at his watch every few minutes, nervous about sunset.

The Chunin looked at the man carefully. He knew the name Gato and that he had more then his share of "questionable" dealings. But what would make a man as powerful as this shipping baron this nervous? He decided to let the Hokage settle it.

The Sandaime stared at the crime boss curiously. Though the man tried to hide it, he was nervous. The old man could see the sweat, despite the criminal's attempt to hide it. What could worry the crime boss so much that he'd leave Wave and come here to hire ninjas? The only thing the old man could think of would be other ninjas, but not even that would scare a gang leader like Gato this badly. Also, why did he need these body guards before sunset? "All right Gato, why don't we drop the pleasantries? Why are you here? What is it you're afraid of?" the old Hokage asked.

The man looked at the stone faced ninja and then looked outside towards the setting sun. There was no way for him to get the protection he needed before sunset, when those … things came after him, without spilling everything. So now he had to decide which was more important, his life or his criminal monopoly. For a man who was a coward at heart there was no choice. "Monsters. Creatures have been appearing all over Wave and killing all my men and my operations at night. I had no choice but to come here. Please, I'll pay anything you want, just get me some damn ninjas!" the man yelled as he turned to look again at the sun. Only a tiny bit was left, he didn't have much time before those creatures came after him.

Sarutobi sighed, thinking carefully. Initially he thought this was a hoax of some kind, but the man's fear was genuine. There was something after him, but the leader of Konoha doubted it was monsters. The only monsters to be found in the five great ninja countries were the Biju, summons, and humans with really odd blood limits. The Biju, as far as Sarutobi knew, wouldn't bother with a single human or the subtly these events had. They would simply rampage and destroy everything as was shown by the Kyuubi's attack five years ago. It was possible that this was the work of summons which meant that ninjas were involved. Same thing with the blood limits theory. In either case, there were ninjas who wanted him dead. In either case it warranted investigation. So the Hokage decided to give the man what he wanted … more or less. "I'll assign one Jonin to guard you. That should be enough to handle whatever is after you," he said evenly in a manner that left no room for discussion. Gato sneered but said nothing, knowing it was useless to argue. The crime boss absently wondered which Jonin he was going to be assigned.

Kakashi sighed as he followed the irritable little man back to his hotel in the late evening. At this time there were a few people out, but not many. Not only was the mobster ticked at being given only one ninja, but he was being paranoid as hell. He kept jumping at any shadow and staying as close to any light source as he could as if it would shield him from the so called "monsters" that were ravaging Wave at this moment. However, the silver haired man couldn't shake the feeling that something was hunting them at this moment. It was foolish since they were in the middle of a ninja village, the largest and most powerful of them to be exact. The teenaged copy ninja was just annoyed at the whole situation, to the point that he couldn't read his favorite novel. Still, something just didn't seem to sit right with the air this night.

High above the white haired ninja and the paranoid mobster, a silent figure stood in the moonlight. The figure was female, in dark blue and purple robes with a yellow trim and sash tied around her waist. She had short dark-purple hair that framed her pale-blue face that was partially hidden by the yellow paper talisman on her forehead. The sleeves to her robes were as long, if not longer, than her body and were huge. Out of each massive sleeve were three large metal talons. Her pale-blue arms were crossed over her chest as she stared at the scene below her. The woman smiled evilly as she gazed down at her quarry. "Well what do you know, the little rat bastard got himself a body guard. This should be fun," she said out loud, chuckling a little. The talisman on her forehead glowed for a moment after which she frowned. "Yeah, yeah I know stick to the mission. Killjoy," she muttered as she hopped down to another building in a flash of speed.

Gato watched as much of the area around him as possible. The Hokage may not have believed him, but he had seen the remains of a couple of his men after meeting up with those creatures. It was enough to make even a criminal like him sick to his stomach. Even with the Jonin behind him wasn't much comfort. However, he was broken out of his thoughts when said ninja suddenly grabbed him and jumped away from where he was a minute ago. Before he could shout complaints, he turned to see a rather massive spiked ball in a small crater in the exact spot he had been in a moment ago. Gato paled as he watched an unknown woman in strange robes with huge sleeves appear a short distance away. They had come for him.

Unlike the crime lord, who was panicking like a lost child, Kakashi was already analyzing their attacker who stood on a water tower spire above them. Immediately, he sensed a strange chakra in her. It wasn't demonic like the Kyuubi's, but it was defiantly not human. Her chakra seemed to flow very differently then a normal person's, as well as the fact that she had a far larger amount then any person her age should have … apparent age anyway. Despite the fact that she looked only in her late twenties and early thirties, her stance, movement, and the way she held herself all spoke of experience, lots of experience. The movements themselves that she was making, even so slightly, were odd. It almost seemed as if she had an innate fixation on hopping, as she kept doing so on one foot on top of the spire. Whoever or whatever this was, it was after Kakashi's client and he had a job to do.

The people on the street backed away, knowing that ninja fights could get very violent and usually didn't care about collateral damage. Kakashi stood his ground as the woman jumped down with ease to the street. "Nice entrance. It seems Gato's claims of monsters weren't exaggerated," the Jonin said evenly.

Gato continued to panic at the sight of the pale blue skinned woman. "I told you! It's a dark one! A demon monster sent here to kill me!" he yelled, causing many people on the street to back away in fear.

The woman just laughed. "Monster, am I? Get your facts straight Gato. First off, I am not a demon. I am a Kuang-shi, more commonly known as a Chinese vampire, an undead creature, not a demonic one. Course some might consider that a type of monster. Second, no one says dark one anymore. That's such an old school term. The politically correct term is darkstalker. Now then, if the white haired teenager would kindly step out of the way, I have a mob boss to kill," Hsien-Ko said with a gleam in her eye.

The darkstalker dashed forward with incredible speed, her arms merging seamlessly into her massive sleeves, taking control of them for the attack. Kakashi had a split second to push Gato out of the way and block the strike with a pair of kunai. He was knocked back hard by the force of the blow. This woman, or darkstalker as she had named herself, was a lot stronger then she looked. Using her massive claws she knocked the one eyed ninja away and immediately turned towards Gato as he was running down the street. In a flash she threw three large spiked balls right at him. Before they could hit however, a flash of green and orange intercepted Gato and got him out of the way. Hsien-Ko looked up to see a man in green spandex with orange arm and leg bands and a bowl hair cut. 'Yuck, and I thought Raptor had bad fashion sense,' she absently thought.

The green man smiled, his teeth sparkling disturbingly. "Well Kakashi, looks like you need the power of youth this evening," he said while holding the irate Gato under his arm. Kakashi just smiled under his mask as he lifted up his hitai-ite to reveal his Sharingan eye. Almost immediately he could tell her chakra was not normal. Normal human chakra was a light blue, Kyuubi's chakra had been a burning red, but hers was a vibrant purple color and it flowed throughout her body, a lot of it concentrating in her massive sleeves and claws. The woman immediately dashed towards Maito Gai, intent to carry out her mission

Reacting quickly, Kakashi made the necessary hand seals. "_Grand Fireball no Jutsu!"_ he called out as he released a massive flame attack towards the woman. She reacted quickly, her claw sliding into her sleeve and being replaced with a large black metal gong with strange white markings. Just as the fireball was about to hit her, her blue arm came out of the opposite sleeve and rang the gong loud. Kakashi could see the waves of chakra that the gong emitted along with its massive sound. Once the fireball met those waves of sound and chakra, it changed course. The fireball was coming back at him! Kakashi dodged to the side, letting the building behind him take the hit and start a massive fire. 'The Hokage is not going to be happy about that,' he thought as he went to help Gai keep Gato from getting killed.

Hsien-Ko ran after the green man who had her target, not caring about the fire. It was a good distraction anyway. Gato was the last mobster of Wave that needed to be eliminated. Once he was gone, construction could really begin. The undead sorceress dashed after the green man, barely able to keep up with him as she threw various weapons from her sleeves with pin point accuracy. The weapons were of various shapes and sizes, some were spiked balls, other blades or knives, and some were large weights meant for crushing. 'Quick little bastard,' the Kuang-shi thought as she followed the man across the roof tops. The fire she had caused was spreading, causing many of the village ninja to try and put it out along with helping the civilians. 'I've had enough of this,' she thought irritably.

Maito Gai ran as fast as he could to get away from that monster woman. While he was no coward and could probably face her on even grounds, fighting her in the middle of the village was a bad idea, especially with the fire that she had indirectly started. The village was falling into chaos just like when the Kyuubi had attacked five years earlier. Now, said woman was chasing him in order to kill the pathetic excuse for a man that he was carrying. He glanced back to see the darkstalker jump high into the air and release a massive amount of spike balls, effectively carpet bombing the whole area with them. 'Oh crap,' he thought as he moved to dodge as many as he could with the extra weight of Gato. The green beast of Konoha tried to dodge, but was unsuccessful and was nailed by one of the spiked balls, causing him to let go of Gato and knocking the man out. Gai quickly recovered and engaged the woman in hand to hand combat, sort of. It all Gai could do to block Hsien-Ko's attacks. Those long sleeves and claws gave her a much longer reach making it harder for him to get in a good hit. She was also very skilled, as good as he was, maybe even more so. As they fought, the green clad man saw Kakashi coming up from behind. "About time you got here Kakashi," Gai shouted as he defended against the woman.

Hsien-Ko frowned. 'This is taking too long. I need to kill that little rat bastard and get back to the settlement,' she thought as she came up with a plan. It would take a lot of power, but it would be worth it to complete the mission. The kuang-shi jumped away to put a little distance between her and the two Jonin. In the background the fire had increased with ninja and civilians running all around. She flashed with power as she produced a large black object with a number on it. "_Chinese Bomb!_" she called out as she threw the device in the distance. "What'll it be? Stop the undead assassin or stop that explosive? You know that in this chaos any number of civilians could be killed by that thing. _Rising Soul Blade!_" she called out once more as she drove both her claws into the ground. The earth in front of her erupted in multiple large serrated blades with runes on them. They continued to emerge in a wave from that beginning point towards the two Jonin.

The dodged the blades as best they could as they ripped through the area, seriously damaging nearby buildings. When the blades subsided they found the darkstalker and Gato both gone. "Damn it! Gai you go find that bomb while I track down that woman and Gato if he's still alive." The taijutsu specialist nodded and went immediately towards where he saw the bomb land while Kakashi immediately began making hand seals. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" he called as his nin-dogs appeared. "Pakkun, I know this sounds weird, but I need you to track a woman who is dead. She is going to assassinate a client of mine and we need to stop her before that." The pug just gave him a strange look but decided not to comment and went to work.

Hsien-Ko had finally spotted her prey from on top a building despite the chaos caused from the fire. The little rat-bastard had given her an unusual amount of trouble. She was going to enjoy ending his life. The hunter shot out a claw and grabbed him before he could run any further. The criminal's mouth opened in a silent scream as he came face to face with the dead woman. People stopped to see who she was and what she was doing despite the fire that was just now being brought under control. Kakashi had also arrived and was about to attack when the kuang-shi struck in a way he hadn't expected even with the Sharingan. She bit him.

Kakashi's, Pakkun's, and all watching civilians' eyes widened as the blue skinned woman bit hard into the smaller man's jugular. Her fangs easily pierced his skin and began draining his life fluids out of him at an astonishing rate. People watched in fascination as the man died a horrible death in front of them with the bright blaze as a backdrop. In the distance they could absently see her bomb going off, taking out a warehouse district and sending Gai flying through the background like a green and orange rocket. In no time at all she had completely drained Gato, leaving him a dried up mummy version of what he used to look like. Hsien-Ko stood up, her fangs glistening in the light of the inferno as she licked the remainder of the blood off her lips. She smiled as she brought her arms out of her sleeves. Making a strange hand seal, she chanted something in a low voice. In a flash she was gone leaving nothing but the fire and the corpse to show for her former presence. Kakashi just stared at the spot where she had been, wondering two things. First was what her appearance signaled for the future. The second was how in hell he was going to explain this massive fire to the Hokage without making it seem like it was his fault?

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Undead (They were raised from the dead or some similar event)**

**Sub Type: ****Humanoid (They have a human like appearance or shape)**

**Kuang-shi: **Geong Si, Jiang Shr (Putonghua) or Kuang Shi (Cantonese) are the zombies of Chinese myth. They are undead creatures caused by the demonic possession of a recently deceased corpse, providing it is still in reasonable condition. They may also be created through the use of certain magical spells. These ones can be identified by the control seals attached to their foreheads. Those without seals were made through some fluke of nature or circumstances. The different ways of creation result in different kinds of Kuang-shi. Some are focused on speed, others tracking, and some just pure power. Just like vampires, hence the common name of Chinese vampire, they need to drink blood in order to survive and have an extreme aversion to sun light. It should be noted that low level kuang-shi are nearly blind and rely on smelling their victim's breath in order to track them. Higher level kuang-shi have better eye sight and senses.

Base level Kuang-shi have no will or thought of their own and just operate on instinct or commands of their creator if they have one. As they grow stronger, their minds develop to resemble the mind that once belonged to the corpse they inhabit. As it matures, it gains new skills with the older among them rumored to have the ability to fly but this has never been truly confirmed. It is also important to note that along with a growth in powers and mental abilities, kuang-shi also develop immunity to sun light and are able to process blood more efficiently, thus requiring less. Kuang-shi tend to stay within a certain territory, usually near where the corpse was buried. Leaving the territory is the best course of action when dealing with kuang-shi


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 10: Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's life for me

In the dark night, high above the clouds were no one could see, a massive ship with black sails made its way over the land. The Stormbreaker, the largest ship to ever sail the skies, moved with a grace belied by its size. Black sails unfurled as a group of smaller ships accompanied it in its hunt. At its helm stood the regal pirate queen Ruby Heart as she made her way over the elemental countries, looking for any target worth pillaging for the building of Atum-Coma, the city hidden in Wave or rather Nexus.

Once the anchor had been placed in Wave country, a deal had been struck with the locals. In return for eliminating the crime lords, the darkstalker refugees would be allowed to settle there. Needless to say there was an odd period of adjustment on both sides, but everyone adapted well enough. Then construction began. They would build a massive city that would be as great, intricate, and varied as the number of creatures that would inhabit it. Construction had already begun as more and more refugees began to flow in through the portal. Naruto was getting better at keeping it open. He would open it every few days in order to not wear the thing out and allow the Key to rest. Still, with all those darkstalkers coming into the newly renamed country of Nexus, many more supplies were needed then what was available. It had been renamed due to the portal and the fact that the very landscape was about to get a serious makeover in the coming years. Sure trade had started up again and supplies were being shipped in from the Lost Zone, what their old world was now being called, but it wasn't enough. They still needed far more supplies and information then was available. So it fell to her, Admiral Ruby Heart, to get those supplies and information by any means necessary. In short, by looting any settlement she felt like with a couple exceptions. One of which was Kohona. One they were the most powerful ninja village despite recent set backs and two, it had been a request from Naruto to leave it alone since the Hokage of that village had actually been decent to the boy. In any case, Ruby Heart was reveling in her new position as commander of the sky fleet and the fact that she now had permission to do what she did best; raid, pillage, and plunder to her black heart's contempt.

The sky pirate chuckled at the thought of the energetic fox boy. Having had to play bodyguard, she got to know him fairly well. He was always on the move and a very creative little guy. He also had no prejudices whatsoever towards any being, darkstalker, human, or otherwise. 'That will serve the lad well in time,' she thought as she sailed the starry sky. The kitsune was endearing to just about everyone he met, even Morrigan and Demitri Maximoff liked the kid, and that was saying something. The boy was also useful with his knowledge, however limited, of this world. Thanks to the information about ninjas and how the villages work, spies had been sent out to all the villages to collect information on them as well as techniques that those of Nexus could use. They had to be choosy though. Techniques like the normal _Clone Jutsu_ wouldn't work well for darkstalkers. Now the _Shadow Clone Jutsu_ was another story. A single darkstalker, with their uncannily high chakra reserves, could become a literal army with that technique and now suffer any of the drawbacks. Despite the limits, Naruto's knowledge also helped them to begin the set up of a type of government. True it would be a little more "unique" then the other villages', but Atum-Coma would have a Kage just like Kohona once everything was set up. In any case it wasn't any of Ruby's Heart's business.

Right now her small fleet was sailing over the northern area, between the Moon and Cloud countries. She had been raiding settlements for the past couple weeks, leaving no survivors, or anything else for that matter. The best part was that the villages' best trackers were useless. They could track anything on the GROUND, but as soon as the raid was over, all her crew members went skyward, it was perfect. She was broken out of her thoughts by one of her crew members, a male naga, slithering up to her. "Admiral, we've spotted an ssssmall encampment below. It sssseems to be made up of Cloud ninja ma'am," he hissed as respectively as he saluted.

Ruby Heart just grinned. "Cloud ninja so close to Fire country? We capture them and we might get some interesting information and or plunder. Besides, I understand that Lord and Lady Wulfenbach need some new … subjects for d'ere work," she said with a chuckle, causing the naga to shiver a little bit. He wasn't sure which was more frightening, what the Wulfenbachs could do to a being with their experiments or his admiral when she was in one of her moods. Frankly, neither he nor anyone else wanted to find out. "Get the raiding parties and tell retract all sails, I'm going down me' self. I need a little fun," she said with a chuckle. The naga shivered again, strike those last two statements, his admiral in one of her moods was much worse then anything the Wulfenbachs could do.

Far below the Storm Breaker, the Cloud ninja encampment was completely unaware of what was going to get the drop on them, both literally and figuratively speaking. They had just escaped from Hidden Leaf with their prize the five year old daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga. They had used the ruse of a treaty in order to get into the village and kidnap her for her Byakugan. Once they learned the secrets of the blood limit, they would crush Konoha's most powerful clan. The girl in question was tied up tightly, gagged, and propped up against a tree. Though her Byakugan wasn't strong yet, it would do for what they had in mind. It also allowed the girl to be the only one to see what was going to and did happen next.

They came without warning, screaming and roaring like the animals some of them resembled. Hinata was scared, now more so then when she had been initially captured. Despite her age she was not stupid, she knew what these ninja wanted with her and what would likely happen to her if a rescue did not come. Now it seemed fate had something else planned for her. She had activated her Byakugan in order to find a way to escape or at least send a signal or something. Instead it had given her a few second warning as those monsters dropped from the sky. Some looked like animals such as being part snake, alligator, wolf, cat, and many others. A couple of them looked like walking corpses, literally. All of them were wearing strange clothes, vests, bandanas, boots, eye-patches, and wielding sharp curved swords, strange daggers, long thin blades, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. They were overpowering and ripping apart the Cloud ninja with frightening speed and ferocity. Ninja were trained at best to handle other ninja and whatever abilities or blood lines they may have. They were not trained to deal with nightmares such as these, especially not a whole army of them dropping out of the sky. One of the attackers particularly caught Hinata's attention. She was one of the few humans in the group and looked to be in charge. She wore dark colored clothes, had a large hat, long blonde hair, and had her right eye covered by a bandage. She fought as furiously as the monsters, maybe even more so. Once the battle was done, one of the creatures noticed her tied up helpless. He looked like a cross between a man and large crocodile. "Well, looky what we got here, a tasty little morsel," he growled licking his chops. However, that was as far as he got before a rather large anchor came down on his head, effectively knocking him out. Said anchor was being held by the one-eyed blonde woman Hinata had been watching.

"Now, now, that be no way ta treat a child," she said simply. She walked up as all the creatures made way, knowing that she was in one of her odd moods. The pirate kneeled down to the girl's level and undid the gag and ropes. "Now then, I be Admiral Ruby Heart. Who might you be girl and what is your purpose here?" she asked kindly but sternly, indicating that she wanted an answer.

The dark haired girl shook a bit and tried to calm herself before answering. "H…Hinata Hyuuga. I w…was captured by them from my h…home," the child explained frightened.

"And where is your home?" Ruby asked calmly though she already had an idea of where.

"Konoha," the pale eyed girl answered.

"I see," the blonde woman said softly. After a moment she smiled brightly. "Well then miss Hinata, it appears I just saved your life. As a result, you belong to me until that debt is paid, understand?" The girl nodded numbly not quite sure what this odd woman was going to do with her but knowing it couldn't be any worse then what those Cloud ninja were planning to do. "Good." She then turned to the creatures behind her, "Gather up the bodies and all the booty you can find. The girl is coming with us and if any of you mangy bilge rats lay a hand on her I'll shoot you out of a cannon me-self."

"Aye-Aye!" they all responded as they went off to do what they were ordered.

Ruby Heart turned back to the girl who was still shaking and staring at her confused and afraid. The pirate smiled softly and picked the girl up with her free arm and started back towards the long boats that would take them back to the Stormbreaker. Hinata shivered but was calmed when Ruby held her a little closer. "Don't worry lass, nothing will happen to ye with me around," she said softly as the boat went higher and higher. "And there she be." The Hyuuga girl gaped at the sight of so large a ship being hidden in the clouds. How anyone could miss this thing was something that boggled her mind. The stepped on board and the girl couldn't help but gaze at everything around her. She had never been on a ship before, let alone one this big and that could fly. The admiral turned to one of her men. "Once everything is secure and all crew accounted for, make sail for home. I'll be retiring to me quarters if there be any troubles." The man saluted and went about his work. Ruby then made her way to the back of the ship where the living quarters were, chuckling slightly at the girl she held and her obvious astonishment at her ship. She walked up to the higher part of the ship and through an ornate door leading to what looked like a small apartment. The pirate set the girl down on the bed before grabbing a chair for herself. "Now then lass, you'll be staying with me till I figure out a good way for ye to repay your debt." The girl nodded quietly, still not sure what she was going to do.

Hiashi Hyuuga was furious as he was worried. The Hidden Cloud had stolen his daughter on her birthday just after the treaty was signed. He couldn't believe this had happened. Actually, he could believe it, he just didn't want to. Even worse was Hidden Cloud was asking for his head since their ninja had been killed. It was all ridicules. First off, their ninja hadn't even been killed within Fire country and certainly not by and Hyuugas. Second, his daughter had been lost as well, meaning they had lost just as much, if nor more then Cloud. Lastly, the real culprits hadn't been found. Even the Inuzukas hadn't had any luck in tracking the real killers. They had found the Cloud ninja campsite, or what was left of it. It appeared that the camp had been taken by surprise and was ransacked badly. The tracks and smells left behind were confusing to the Inuzukas to say the least. They reported smells and track belonging to large reptiles, large cats, wolves, the dead, machines, and other things they couldn't identify, but that wasn't the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was the fact that said tracks and smells didn't leave the camp. While the Cloud ninja's scents could be traced back to Konoha along with Hinata's, the unknown scents couldn't be tracked anywhere. It was like they had all simply disappeared. Even more puzzling was the strange female scent they had detected mixed with his daughter's. It was human and yet it wasn't. They weren't sure what it was, only that whatever being it was as near or close to the ocean which made the Hokage suspicious.

Ever since that woman who claimed to be a Kuang-shi, a darkstalker, had come weird things had been happening all over the elemental countries, especially in Wave. Raids like what had happened at the Cloud ninja camp were becoming common all around except near Konoha. They were always quick and clean, leaving no witnesses or evidence at all. The rumors coming from Wave were also suspicious. Apparently trade had started up again, allowing the country to restore itself and yet no one knew what was going on there. Any merchants who went in and came out had seemingly no memory of their stay in Wave other then anything directly related to their business and even those memories were foggy. The Hokage also knew that other hidden villages had sent in spies to see what in the world was going on. As far as he knew, none of said spies had returned or reported back which was why he was reluctant to send his own. Even stranger were the rumors of the creatures that were starting to inhabit Wave. It had just been a few at first but had grown to an amazing number and seemed to keep growing. All this just made the Hokage worry not only about Konoha and the elemental countries but also for Hiashi's daughter. The old man hoped the girl was all right.

Hinata wasn't sure what to think of her situation. On one hand she had been kidnapped from her home, owed a life debt to a strange pirate woman, and was stuck on a massive flying ship heading for who knows where filled with all sorts of creatures that all looked like they wanted to eat her. On the other hand, the little girl never remembered having this much fun back at home. It had been a couple weeks since she had been brought on board the Stormbreaker by Admiral Ruby Heart and quite honestly it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. After a day or so, when the pirates all learned that Hinata was under Ruby's "interest" they didn't treat her like a prisoner and more like another one of them. For the little girl it was strange. Ruby had told her to learn as much as she could about the ship and pirating, in order to better fulfill the debt she owed. Ruby had said this with an odd smile on her face which made the girl wonder. The pale eyed girl found most of the crew to be relatively friendly towards her and we're willing explain things, though it did take some getting used to on both sides. For one, the pirates found it amusing that the girl was so shy around everyone with the exception of Ruby. For Hinata, it was getting used to the pirates' manners or lack thereof. In the Hyuuga household everything was manners, posture, appearance, protocol, and strictness. Here there was protocol in the sense of running the ship, but that's where the similarities ended. The pirates tended to be far more open and loud, swearing here and there, and other such things. True they wouldn't do anything completely perverted or such around Hinata, less they wished to get shot out of a cannon by their admiral or worse, but they were still much more emotional and outgoing then the Hyuugas. There was also the matter of getting used to their schedule. It was completely reversed from what she was used to. Instead of sleeping at night and working in the day it was the other way around. Still overall it was a far better outcome then being killed and or tortured for her Byakugan. At the moment she was sitting next to Ruby Heart while on deck. They had made anchor in Wave, or rather Nexus as it was being renamed, to drop off their loot and restock. Some of the pirates were singing as they drank and relaxed for the morning before turning in for the day.

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.**_

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
**_  
We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
Maraud and embezzle and even hijack.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
**_  
We kindle and char, inflame and ignite.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
We burn up the city, we're really a fright.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
**_  
We're rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs!  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
**_  
We're beggars and blighters and ne'er-do-well cads.  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
Aye! But we're loved by our mothers and dads!  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

_**Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.**_

Ruby Heart smiled to herself as the girl Hinata watched her crew have some fun. The moment she looked into this girl's pale eyes, she saw something. It was a longing for freedom, to be free from her family's rules and strictness. The problem was she had already resigned herself to her fate long before she even realized she had a choice. 'Well, I'll just have to change all that,' the pirate thought to herself as she looked down at the compass in her hand. It was still pointing directly towards the girl, confirming what the pirate already knew.

**DARK TOME: Flying Ships **

**Sky Ships:** Sky ships are a unique form of transportation. Similar in appearance to normal sailing ships, sky ships, as their name implies, fly and sail the sky rather then the sea. Originally developed by wizards wanting an easier way to get around, the sorcery and magic needed for sky ships was later stolen and adapted by normal people. This resulted in the creation of sky sailors and sky pirates. Sky ships are able to fly due to an intricate network of magic lines weaved into the structure, similar to that of leylines, the unseen rivers of supernatural energy that flow through the planet. They are propelled by either wind sails, propellers, or by additional magic. Many of the larger ships, such as the Storm Breaker, are moved through the use of wind sails or possibly propellers as it would take a massive amount of magic and control to move something that large without disrupting the network and causing the ship to fall to the ground. It is this same reason that use of magic on sky ships is limited, however it should be noted that the larger the ship the larger amount of magic that can be used without having to worry about damaging the network. Other then these differences, sky ships sail and operate almost identically to normal ships. To date, the largest sky ship is the Storm Breaker, captained by Admiral Ruby Heart.

**Air Ships:** Air ships, like sky ships, are large vessels that transverse the sky. However, while sky ships look similar to their water bound cousins, air ships take on the appearance of large blimps. Another key difference is that air ships use no magic whatsoever in regards to flying or movement. Instead they rely solely on propellers and similar devices. They are completely technology driven. This also allows magic to be freely used on air ships whereas it would no be possible on sky ships. They were originally created by various Sparks to hold mobile bases and laboratories. In general they tend to be larger and slower then sky ships but can take more punishment and do not need to dock anywhere for repairs. It should also be noted that while not as maneuverable as sky ships, air ships can go much higher and can change their height without having to move forward or backwards. To date, the largest air ship is Wulfenbach Castle, captained by Commander Krosp I

AN: I've been bouncing this idea around in my head ever since I first started this fic. I've seen a lot of fics showing what would happen if Naruto were raised by someone else, but not that many on Hinata. So I figured if Naruto were getting a new life, why not someone else? What would happen if Hinata weren't raised with Hiashi, whom everyone knows is a jerk to her, and the always prim and proper Hyuugas and instead by someone different? Well you can't get much more different then a flying ship full of pirates that belongs to a city full of darkstalkers. I'm sure this will make things interesting later, especially when she meets her father and cousin again.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 11: Agatha Heterodyne and the Snake Skinned Woman

Anko ran through the forest with her team behind her. The Jonin ran through the forest towards Wave. It was nearly a month after the rumors of monsters had begun. Since they had started they had grown. At first there were just a few unrelated rumors of monsters and the mysterious attacks here and there, but now they were starting to become more detailed and started to go together. Even stranger was the disappearance of several encampments from various villages. They had been raided with nothing be debris left. It had been on one of these raids that Hinata Hyuuga had gone missing. Whether she had been killed or captured was still open to debate. In any case, the rumors and instances had grown to a point where the Hokage couldn't ignore them any more. So he sent special Jonin Anko and a team of Chunin to investigate and report back. The group was heading towards the Great Twilight Bridge which had been recently built, connecting Wave to the mainland. It was the only land based way to get to Wave as all water based was met with failure. Other teams from other villages had attempted to scout Wave by either getting a boat or simply running on the water. According to reports, they never made it even halfway before something happened. What happened exactly, no one was sure as they didn't come back … at all.

Anko ran with the few Chunin she had been assigned behind her. They were almost at the bridge and already she could tell something was … off about this area. For one, the foliage was much thicker in this area around the bridge end and extended to exactly a mile in diameter around the end. It was thick and lush, much more like a jungle then a temperate forest that Fire country was known for. The sadistic young woman also noticed a number of strange flowers and plants in the area, many of which she had never seen the likes before. There was also the feeling of being watched by something. Anko just couldn't shake the feeling despite there being nothing to indicate they were being watched. No strange smells, no odd sounds, no chakra signatures, nothing at all. Yet the feeling just wouldn't go away and she could tell her whole team could feel it. However, the feeling got worse the closer they got to the bridge. It was about then that they could see someone sitting on the bridge. It looked like a young woman, except she was dressed very strangely.

The woman was dressed in a strange outfit. She wore boots that went up to her thighs that had spikes on her knees and knees and heels. Her torso was in a strange dress that flared into leaf like extensions. Her shoulders were covered with large pads with three spikes each, two small and one larger one. She also wore gloves extending from a spike on her elbow and ending and flaring at her wrists. The whole outfit was colored dark purple with dark red blotches near the ends and outlined in a light golden yellow. The woman looked to be in her mid twenties and was well shaped with her tight suit showing off her body nicely. However, there were a few things that made it apparent that she wasn't human. She had pointed elfin ears, soft pale green skin, hair the looked like a bushel of leaves with a strange large flower behind it all the same color scheme as her outfit, and her eyes. Her eyes were just blank black orbs that seemed to look everywhere and nowhere. The group of ninja stopped as the woman turned towards them with a blank look.

"More humans?" she asked in a raspy voice. She then seemed to notice their headbands. "From the Leaf this time; that is interesting." she said as she stood up and walked towards them. Anko and the Chunin she was with all took defensive positions. This woman just tilted her as if seeing something curious. "You," she said while pointing to the young woman in front of the group. "You are … different, altered. Interesting. Wulfenbach will wish to see you," she said calmly as all of a sudden, massive vines and trees erupted out of the area. Before they could react, the woman spread her arms and a weird yellow mist started to shoot out in small geysers from her wrists, shoulders, and knees. With nowhere to go, the mist quickly filled up the wooden enclosure.

"Everyone cover your mouths!" Anko cried out, but it was too late. They had all breathed in the strange mist. One by one, they all dropped like flies, out cold. Anko was the last to go down as the strange plant like woman concentrated the mist onto her. As the young woman started to drift off, she could still see the blank eyes of the plant woman looking down at her in curiosity.

Agatha Heterodyne Wulfenbach looked over her new patient. A young woman with long black hair, dressed in a fishnet shirt and jacket while bearing a Leaf headband. She and her team had been brought in by the leader of the Netherleafs, Vee. The other members of the group were now sleeping off the effects of Vee's _Dream Dust_ while this girl had been brought to her and her husband for analysis. Apparently Vee had detected something strange in the woman. After examining her, Agatha confirmed it. This woman had definitely been experimented on, specifically her skin. However, whoever did the job didn't do it as well as they should've done. In any case, it was Agatha's job to repair the damage and give this woman a new lease on life despite protests from Krosp and the Jägermonster Generals. This woman was from the Leaf and thus a potential ally once things were properly set up. 'Besides, Naruto might be interested in meeting someone from his old home town,' she thought as she connected a couple of wires, finishing her current project to help the unconscious kunoichi.

Anko Mitarashi woke up slowly. Her head felt like one of Gai's training dummies after one his more grueling sessions. She squinted as her eyes started to become used to the light and was surprised at what she saw. The young woman was in a laboratory but a far different one then Orochimaru's. While his had been dark, dank, with grotesque parts all around, and the stench of toxins, chemicals, and decay this was brightly lit and much bigger. It had large pieces of machinery and tools and smelled more of oil and other chemicals, though only lightly as this place seemed much cleaner. As her vision and mind cleared, she noticed she was on an operating table buck naked with a sheet draped over her. She also noticed that she wasn't alone. Nearby at a workbench was a young blonde haired woman with green eyes and glasses who looked a littler older then her dressed in a lab coat with gloves. The woman turned around and smiled when she saw Anko awake and staring at her. "Good to see you awake. How do you feel?" the woman asked kindly.

Anko wasn't sure how to respond. Usually after being gassed like that a ninja would be someone's prisoner for interrogation, not a patient of some type. She decided to answer honestly after a moment. "Well, other then a massive headache and the fact that my clothes are missing, I feel fine." After a moment she spoke again. "Actually, I feel really good," she stated more as an after thought then anything else. Now that she noticed it, she did feel a lot better then she had in a long time but also different somehow, the ninja couldn't explain it.

The woman just smiled. "Well, then it looks like it was a success. As for your clothes, they're right here along with your weapons. I had them all cleaned and as for your headache I have some aspirin if you like. I know that _Dream Dust_ can leave a head pounding for some time," she said simply as she handed the Anko her clothes, all folded neatly along with her weapons and scrolls, all in perfect condition. Now the Leaf ninja was really confused, she should be getting tortured by now not being treated as a guest at a hotel.

"Um this is nice and all but what the hell is going on? Where am I, who are you, and where's my team?" She then remembered what the blonde had said earlier. "And what did you mean it was a success? What did you do to me?" she said a little more threateningly as she put her clothes back on. After being Orochimaru's guinea pig, the idea of someone else experimenting on her was not something she'd like to consider.

The woman smiled calmly as the threat in her voice wasn't there. "My name is Agatha Heterodyne Wulfenbach, your team is just fine, sleeping off the effects of the dust. They won't be harmed I assure you. As for where you are, you're in the City Hidden in the Nexus, Atum-Coma," Agatha explained as she poured a cup of a tea for herself and Anko.

The dark haired woman raised an eyebrow at the information. "Hidden Nexus? Never heard of it," she said evenly, hoping to get more information. Then at least her mission wouldn't be a total loss assuming she could get out of here.

The spark chuckled. "No I don't think you would've. It used to be called Wave country until recently. As for what I did to you, I corrected your problem," she said simply.

"What problem?" Anko said not sure if she wanted to find out.

"Your skin, it was incomplete. Whoever experimented on you did a half baked job of it. While your skin would've kept you young and healthy for a few decades it would've eventually failed and you would've died since it would be unable to renew itself. So I correct the problem by splicing some naga DNA into you. It allows you to shed your skin whenever you want, healing you and renewing your youth. Though there were a few unintended side effects," Agatha explained calmly.

Anko was now a bit calmer as she was able to tell that this woman wasn't lying to her. This woman obviously wasn't a ninja, but she did move with a certainty of someone who had seen their share of action. "What side effects?" Agatha simply held up a mirror and Anko was shocked to see that she had changed. Her skin had become only slightly paler, no where near Orochimaru's color to which she was grateful. Anko's eyes had become golden with the irises becoming black slits. On a whim she opened her mouth to find she had fangs now that were dripping slightly with venom. She also noted that her tongue was now more pointed at the end. Overall it wasn't a big change, nothing a slight Genjutsu couldn't fix. After she was done looking at herself she turned to the strange and apparently brilliant woman who had helped her. "What's this all about?" she asked curiously.

Being a Jonin, Anko had seen her share of strange things, but nothing in her career, with the possible exception of the Kyuubi attack, could've prepared her for what she was seeing. The woman was in castle, on a ship, several thousand feet up in the air! The craft she was in resembled large oval shaped balloon with a castle and other structures situated on top of it. This was beyond anything Anko had ever dreamed of. Even stranger was the story behind it. She could not believe all these creatures had come from another realm. She listened intently as the spark explained what had happened.

"When we first arrived, many people were downright afraid of us. Of course who could blame them? Having just gotten rid of Gato, they feared they were trading one hell for another. It certainly didn't help that a few darkstalkers were planning to go on a feeding frenzy as soon as they got here. Ho boy was that mess," the blonde woman said shaking her head as the two walked down the hall. "A decent number of the locals started to protest and unfortunately had to be … dealt with. We were able to smooth things out though there are a few who still wish to see us gone. In any case, what's your story?" the spark asked kindly.

Anko sighed and decided she had nothing to lose at this point. She didn't know where her squad was, where she was exactly other then being several thousand feet in the air, and with a woman who had an intelligence that obviously dwarfed her own. The snake woman also had no clue as to where she was being led. However she got her answer as she was led to the control room of the blimp. Standing there was what looked like a white furred and blue haired catwoman and a boy she almost didn't recognize. He was dressed in baggy black shorts and a baggy black shirt with dark orange markings on both. He had a pair of fox ears, a single fox tail, fire fur colored fox feet and claws, and bright blue animal like eyes. "Naruto?" she spoke softly as if she wasn't sure what she was seeing. She definitely remembered this boy as he was one of the few people in Konoha who had been just as hated as her. True she hadn't done much if anything to help him, but she certainly didn't do anything against the boy.

The kitsune looked up at the snake like woman. He tensed as he recognized her scent as being snake-like and as being from Konoha. However he relaxed a little as she kneeled down to his level, just looking at him in an odd combination of astonishment and relief. "Who are you? Are you from Konoha?" he asked carefully. The woman nodded and began asking questions about what had happened to him and where he had been. Agatha stood back silently as she watched the two converses catching up and comparing notes. Naruto answered as best he could before he asked a question of his own. "Why did they hate you?" he asked sadly. Anko's eyes widened for a moment as the room went silent.

The now half-naga sighed before speaking. "I made a mistake and chose a bad teacher. As a result as far as most of the village is concerned, I bear his treason," she said simply in a tone that signaled she didn't want to elaborate. The memories of Orochimaru, both what he had shown her and done her danced in her mind. The far away look in her eyes as well as the slight shiver didn't escape the spark watching or the kitsune.

"Then why go back?" the fox boy asked innocently.

Anko broke out of her thoughts as she stared at the boy. It took her a moment before answering. "To be able to live with myself," she said simply.

It was then Felicia, who had been silent this whole time decided to speak up. "Then why don't you live with yourself here?" the catwoman asked kindly. Anko looked up confused. "Nexus is taking in as many nuke-Nins as possible and you'd be more then welcome here. We can always use ninja with skills like yours. Besides, the best revenge is to live well, is it not?" she said with a smile.

Anko looked at the feline then at the blonde spark who was also smiling at her. Why did she want to go back? Sure there were people there she knew but they all regarded her with caution all the time, as if she were going to snap at them and kill them all. Then there were the villagers. Sure they didn't treat her as bad as they had Naruto but that was only because they knew she had authority and could fight back. She saw the looks and sneers that were supposed to be hidden and heard the taunts that they thought she couldn't hear. Truthfully it was becoming a battle to not simply explode at all of them. She looked at the two darkstalkers and then at the Spark thinking carefully about what she wanted before she got an idea. 'If this works I can get away from those assholes and do the Hokage a favor,' she thought wickedly.

Sarutobi sighed as he read the report the spy team had brought back with them along with the letter Anko had sent. It seemed Wave, or rather Nexus, wanted to be their ally but at the moment didn't want to reveal themselves. As a gesture of good will they had sent back the spy team unharmed if not a little confused. 'Though I'm never going to understand how in the world they were dropped off at our front gates sleeping like babies,' the old man mused. The letter had been from Anko explaining what had happened though he was pretty sure she was leaving something out. It also said that she'd be staying to act as a liaison/diplomat for the Leaf, though again Sarutobi suspected there was more to it. In any case, there was no doubt the letter was from Anko considering it had been delivered by one of her snakes with her signature and the signature of one "Baroness Agatha Clay Heterodyne Wulfenbach: Resident Co-Monarch of Clockworks" with two small stamped symbols next to it, one which looked like a small whirlpool to the left of the signature and the other a small gear to the right. The Hokage sighed tiredly, 'Why do I get the feeling that all this weirdness is going to come back and bite me in the ass?' he thought as he looked at the recently redone map, where Wave had been replaced by Nexus.

**DARK TOME:**** Creatures**

**Main**** Type:**** Plant**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid morph (meaning they can shape change into lots of things rather then a limited number of specific forms like Humanoid Shifter types)**

**Netherleafs****:** A type of intelligent plant found in the deepest jungles of both Makai and more recently the Human world. Netherleafs come in an extremely wide variety of subspecies, each with their own quirks and abilities. As a result they can grow in just about any environment that provides them with enough nutrition. However they tend to be found in areas that are densely populated by other non-plant species due to the fact that they are carnivorous. Despite this, Netherleafs tend to all share similar characteristics.

Netherleafs tend to mimic any humanoids in the area in order to better manipulate the environment around them and confront, capture, and consume prey. Netherleafs are voracious and will eat just about anything living but there are specific insects they love to eat and others that they will avoid eating as they are necessary for pollination and that they think they're cute for some reason. They can also receive nutrition from soil, water, sunlight, and especially moonlight and starlight hence they tend to be most active at night. Intelligence wise they vary from plant to plant. Some plant's intelligence is barely that of a drone while others, usually the Bloom, are more then capable of human level thought. Personality wise they are usually very calm, patient, and easy going but will not pass up a chance to devour something (or someone) if they can help it. They tend to live in groups called Patches and lead by a single powerful Netherleaf, usually called a Bloom.

These intelligent plants are deadly and are able to take down things many times their size and power. Netherleafs can alter their bodies into a number of weapons such as leaf like blades or long whips with thorns in them. They can also alter themselves to look like a normal plant and thus simply wait for prey to get too close. One of the few ways you can tell the difference is the smell of meat or flesh that they tend to have in such forms. Netherleafs also have the ability to generate various toxins in their bodies and release them such as _Dream Dust_ which is a powerful paralyzing agent. Also, they're able to manipulate local flora to be their weapon such as crushing trees, poisonous flowers, etc. It should be noted that each of these abilities varies between species of Netherleafs. A desert Netherleaf would be most apt to manipulating desert plants and creating sharp spines while not being that good at making poisons. On the other hand, a jungle Netherleaf would be an expert at poisons but would not have the same spine making ability as the desert one. In any case, Netherleafs are extremely dangerous and at the moment only exist in Hidden Nexus, allied with those in Atum-Coma.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block. I know not the best chapter but trust me, it will get better later. I'm just setting up for all the hell that'll be raised later.


	12. Dark Tome I Districts

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 12: **DARK TOME I - Districts**

**LOCATIONS****: Atum-Coma, the City Hidden in the Nexus**

**Leader: ****Youkai Kage – Donovan Baine**

**Symbol:**** A circle inside a larger circle with 4 curved lines going from the smaller to the larger one. Appearance is similar to looking at a tornado or hurricane from the sky. A small vortex.**

Though there are many towns, villages, and cities in the Elemental countries, there is no place even similar to Atum-Coma. Founded by many different types of darkstalkers and humans, this city is no place for the foolish or the unwary. This is a place with as many different environments as there are species of creatures. Due to the sheer size of the city and the number of different species, the city is divided into different districts. Each district has a specific elemental affinity and thus caters to certain species related to that element/environment. Also due to the size, each district has at least one Monarch to supervise and oversee all dealings and operations within that district. To help with communication, each district has a specific symbol and nickname given to it by the people (using the term VERY loosely) of that district. Though people can come and go through the districts as they please, they tend to stay in their own out of preference.

The entire city is run by the council which is made up of the Monarchs and overseen by the Kage, much like most hidden villages are. The current and first Youkai Kage is the former hunter of the Dark, Donovan Baine, due to his victory over Pyron and the fact that he is able to balance both human and darkstalker qualities. Like all Kage he is in command of the military forces while the Monarchs are in charge of more civilian operations. Each district has certain characteristics, such as shipping, agriculture, security, and so on.

**District: ****Outer Territory**

**Monarch:**** Bloom - Vee**

**Symbol: ****Flower bud**

**Element Affinity****: None**

The Outer is not so much a district as it is a territorial extension of the city. This is the area on the mainland surrounding the mainland side of the Great Twilight Bridge. Extending exactly one mile from the end, covered in thick jungle produced and maintained by various Netherleafs, this area acts like a gate and first line of defense against possible invaders. It also acts like a checkpoint for anyone heading into or out of the city. Controlled and maintained by Vee, the current leader of the Netherleafs and strongest, very few get by without her knowledge or permission. Vee is also in charge of the bridge itself as well as the other end of it. It should be important to note that while this district has an extremely high concentration of Netherleafs, they can be found all over Atum-Coma in one form or another.

**District: ****The Wilds**

**Monarch:**** Alpha – Felicia Talbain**

**Symbol: ****Animal paw print**

**Element Affinity****: Forest**

The Wilds, as it is aptly called, is a place where the lines between predator and prey tend to blur … a lot. This place is a massive jungle created due to having the largest concentration of Netherleafs and Spirit Bees (to be defined later) in the city. In this district, the buildings are actually large trees manipulated by the Netherleafs to suit the residents' needs. Most of the residents are bestial, plant, and a few aquatic type darkstalkers. Like all districts, humans roam in this area as well and are mixed in with the rest of populace. This is the agricultural center of Atum-Coma, growing all shorts of plants, ranging from common crops to far more unusual species. This place also acts as a combination preserve and greenhouse. Not only does this district contain some very unique and dangerous plants, it also some contains unique and dangerous beasts and creatures, specifically those few that survived the Lost Zone. This entire area and it bioresearch are under the supervision of Felicia Talbain. She was chosen due to her diplomacy skills and adaptation to the area. It is important to note that those unfamiliar with this district tend to get lost … and not come out for some time. The current record is 3 weeks, 5 days, and 7 hours.

**District: ****The Below**

**Monarch:**** King – Rikuo **

**Symbol: ****Water drop**

**Element Affinity****: Water/ocean**

The Below as it is commonly known, is called that for a very simple reason. The reason is that more then 80 percent of the district in underwater in the ocean just off shore of the city near the Great Twilight bridge. The rest that is not underwater is made up of the harbor and ocean side areas. As a result, this district contains almost solely aquatic type darkstalkers and has a low level of humans present. Those in this area are responsible for shipping, trade, and guarding the water to make sure NO ONE enters the city by water without permission. To help with this a Leviathan (to be defined later) is employed. This district is supervised by the merman Rikuo. He was chosen due to his calm attitude and logical thinking. This district is usually very organized and proper due to the responsibility of shipping. On the council he is in charge of water management and pollution control.

**District: ****Clockworks**

**Monarch:**** Baron, Baroness – Agatha & Gilgamesh Wulfenbach**

**Symbol: ****Gear**

**Element Affinity****: Metal/technology**

Clockworks is the technological center of the city and could be considered its downtown. Here is where massive amounts of research and experimentation done in all non-magic related fields. As a result, this district is filled with all types of darkstalkers, with high concentrations of experimental and imp types. Clockworks also has the second highest concentration of humans in the city besides Helios. This district acts not only as a research center, but as a center for education due to having both the Ninja Academy and the Twilight University. The home base for the jägermonster police force and subsequently Ironclad Prison, one of the most secure places in the city, is also located here. This district is constantly on the move night or day with various explosions and alarms being common place. This district is under the supervision of the Wulfenbachs, two of the most powerful Sparks in existence. Known for their caring nature towards others, they act as human representatives on the council. They retain respect due to their intelligence and the fact that many darkstalkers are downright freaked of Spark Madness.

**District: ****Ice Blight**

**Monarch:**** Chief - Sasquatch**

**Symbol: ****Snowflake**

**Element Affinity****: Ice/artic**

The artic region known as Ice Blight is a mountainous temperate zone with an extended winter season caused by powerful runes and enchantments. Being an artic region, this district is filled with many types of darkstalkers, all of which are adapted to extreme cold. This is the location of some of the best medical facilities in the city as well as home to a number of hot springs and winter sport areas. Many competitions are held here semi regularly. Extreme, fierce, and sometimes downright insane, they are the original reason the medical facilities were built. This area is overseen by Sasquatch who is also leader of the Bigfoot tribe (to be defined later). He is a jolly fellow whom many respect. He is also extremely protective of his clan and the people in his district. On the council he oversees all health related issues such as new diseases and such.

**District: ****Makai**

**Monarch:**** Lord, Lady – Demitri, Morrigan Maximof **

**Symbol: ****Skull**

**Element Affinity****: Darkness/demon**

This is the one of, if not the darkest places in the city. Makai, as it is commonly called, is the center for both the highest and lowest class of darkstalkers. Similar to Clockworks in that it is a city, Makai is built in an older style with many museums and theaters. It also has a number of bars and shops. It is home to many demon and undead type darkstalkers with a few bestial as well. The human population here is a little on the low side but nowhere to the degree of The Below. Due to the seediness of the area, much of black market is located here though no one really cares. Makai also somewhat acts as the red light district due to the fact that many succubae, incubi, and similar creatures reside there since Atum-Coma doesn't have a red light district (to be explained later). Also because of the theaters, this district has a high concentration of catwomen. This district is under the control of Lord Demitri and Lady Morrigan, both known for their ruthlessness and their ability to keep order. They help the council keep the few demon aristocracy in the city in line as well as keeping the old traditions from the Lost Zone alive.

**District: ****Helios**

**Monarch:**** Archangel - Dendre**

**Symbol: ****Cross**

**Element Affinity****: Light/spiritual**

Despite being the district that is considered the opposite of Makai, Helios shares many of the same characteristics. Like Makai and Clockworks, this is a city district but it is much cleaner and contains many divine and light type darkstalkers. This district also contains the highest concentration of humans, some of which are priests, priestesses, wizards, sorceresses, shamans, and other spiritual beings. This district contains many temples and shrines and much if not all of the area is considered sacred. As a result, there is very little crime in this area, which both attracts and repels residents. Helios, named for the sun, is under the watch of a fallen angel named Dendre. Despite having a slight attitude problem, she is able to keep those of this district in line and not go trying to purify the rest of the city, though one or two have been known to slip out. Most darkstalkers tend to avoid this area. On the council she helps keep balance throughout the city between the various energies flowing through it. With so many different types being thrown around, it would be chaos without her there to enforce order.

**District: ****Tirana**

**Monarch:**** Pharaoh - Anakaris **

**Symbol: ****Egyptian eye**

**Element Affinity****: Earth/desert/fire**

Canyons, desert, wasteland, and a lot of rocks characterize this district. This district is in charge of all stone and metal work in the city. With massive volcanic areas acting like super forges, many metals which would take weeks or even months can be forged in a fraction of the time. Many bandits and mercenaries call this place home and thus a number of guilds are found here, with some being a few cards short of a full deck. Earth, bestial, fire, undead, demonic, and experimental darkstalkers all make there home here. There is a decent level of humans in comparison to the darkstalker numbers. This area is watched over by the ancient mummy pharaoh Anakaris. Due to his experience in ruling a desert area and for being known to be tough but fair, he was chosen to oversee this district. His only real flaw is sometimes being old fashioned, he doesn't tolerate foolishness very well and that has led to some … interesting situations. Anakaris is in charge of making sure the law is enforced on everyone, even the council itself, and does not tolerate those who would bend the rules for their own gain.

**District: ****Sky Hold**

**Monarch:**** Sovereign - Shinara**

**Symbol: ****Feather**

**Element Affinity****: Air/sky**

Tall mountainous region constantly engulfed in various clouds. Sky Hold is the district of the sky thus the main holding area of the fleet. All air ships and sky ships come here to dock for repairs and restocking. As a result, many small trade shops opened up here and thus attract many different types of darkstalkers to this area, mostly air and bestial types. This place is also the central hangout for sky pirates. As a result, Ruby Heart was the first to be named Monarch for this region but she turned it down on the ground that she had enough to deal with the fleet and didn't want to be tied down as it were. Instead the job was handed to a four winged twilight angel named Shinara. More interested in monetary pursuits rather then divine or spiritual ones like most angels, Shinara is a shipping and trade genius and is always looking to improve things in her district. She is also good allies with Ruby Heart and Krosp I, allowing her to have complete access to the entire fleet. On the council she handles all trade and shipping matters much to her delight.

**Officials**

Along with the monarchs, there are a number of people in Atum-Coma who are also important in keeping things running smoothly. These are the officials of various departments and positions.

**John Talbain** – Head of the Hidden Nexus hunter ninjas.

**Ruby Heart** – Admiral of the Sky Fleet and captain of the Storm Breaker.

**Yomiko Readman** – A literature demon that is in charge of the Nexus Library, one of the most heavily guarded places in the city.

**Alice** – Last name unknown, species unknown, and is head doctor at the Nexus Rehabilitation Asylum.

**Zabel Raptor** – A manic zombie who is the head of interrogations. He is known for driving his "subjects" out of their minds.

**E-Bee **– Empress Bee, leader of the Spirit Bees (to be defined later). She is head of much of the construction going on in Atum-Coma.

**Jägermonster Generals – **General Khrizhan, General Zog, and General Goomblast are the ones in charge of the Jägermonster Police (to be defined later).


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

AN: Someone commented that Bulleta would be 14 at most. Keep in mind that this fic takes place YEARS after the games, anime, and comics. Also keep in mind that darkstalkers, unlike normal humans, tend to age slower. Also, someone else commented on the Jägermonsters' name. Look up Girl Genius Online as that's where I got them from since I didn't create them.

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 13: Genin Teams … Darkstalkers style.

Naruto woke up early that night. Tonight was the night. 'Finally, I'll get assigned a Genin team and begin missions,' the fox boy thought excitedly. It had been six years since he had been found by Felicia, now his mother through both adoption and blood, and four years since the Atum-Coma the city hidden in the Nexus had been completed. Once the city had been completed, the Academy had been set up and many young humans and darkstalkers had applied to become ninja. His class would be the first to graduate and become Genin teams from the Academy and the kitsune was excited. He had an idea of who might be on his team but wasn't sure. He'd just have to see when he got there. Things had sure changed a lot for him in the past six years.

Naruto now lived in the Wilds with his mom and dad, Jon and Felicia. They had finally gotten married three years ago and thus solidifying the alliance between Catwomen and Werewolves. "Took them long enough," Lucy had muttered at the time with a smile. In any case, they had become his parents and he had never been happier. He had been training to be a ninja with his dad and it had resulted in him growing a second tail. Hurt like hell at the time but he could definitely tell the power difference despite the fact that he couldn't sit for a week. Naruto had also made a number of friends at the Academy, both human (supposedly) and darkstalker. It was exciting to wonder who would be on his team and who would be his instructor. The two-tailed kitsune shifted to his full fox form, about the size of a large wolf, and began to make his way through the Wilds towards The Below and onward to Clockworks.

The city was busy and bustling at this hour as people began their night. The fire colored fox slipped through the crowds easily. Jumping off buildings, catching rides on various vehicles, Naruto continued making his way towards the Academy. On the way various people waved at him. Due to his involvement in helping to found the city and getting everyone out of the Lost Zone, foxes in general were considered good luck and were protected animals. As a result, many wild foxes roamed the city here and there. Naruto himself in his fox form stood out due to his size, fur coloring, and his multiple tails. Naruto made his way through The Below and was now in Clockworks. The stench of chemicals and machinery was everywhere. The kitsune was used to the smell, but it didn't mean he had to like it. 'I don't know how anyone can live here sometimes. Half the time you'd get knocked out from all stenches in this place,' he absently mused as he entered the Academy, shifting into his usual halfway form.

In the seats were various humans and darkstalkers, all waiting for their headbands. Naruto took a seat next to his "sisters" Ria and Mia. The two cat girls were still working together and still being general nuisances. On his other side was his friend Leon Wulfenbach. The young spark was dressed in plated armor of his own design and creation. He was always tinkering with something and liked to help Naruto pull off a prank or two, usually to test out whatever he had invented. Next to him was Anita Baine, the current Youkai Kage's daughter. She was quiet but a nice girl to have around and hung around Naruto often which usually resulted in him trying to make her laugh and succeeding. She was dressed simply with a long chain of mystic beads criss-crossing her torso. On the far side of the class was Shiva Aensland Maximof, a hybrid vampire succubus demon noble from Makai. Despite being nobility, she wasn't nearly as snobbish as some demons and had one hell of a twisted sense of humor. Wearing a tight form fitting suit that was of a common style of succubae, she was always on the look out for things that she deemed "interesting". A light snoring caught the fox boy's attention and he looked to see Amethyst Heart, more commonly called Amy, leaning back in her chair with her feet on the table, sleeping away along with her small bird partner Kir. Dressed in typical pirate garb with a huge sentient shark sword on her back, the adopted daughter of Admiral Ruby Heart was being as laid-back as she usually was. No one dared to wake her though as she got mean when she was rudely woken up. Next to the napping pirate was a mass of rose colored hair under what looked like a large purple mushroom cap. Verity was a young bloom with a very human like appearance. Her torso was covered in a thick plant like membrane with some leaves near the bottom that resembled a dress. She was actually very friendly and one of the most curious people Naruto had ever seen. In a corner sat Jack Smith, absently sketching something. Dressed in a black hood and long jacket with blue highlights, he was a Shadow Wraith and no one was quite sure where he came from. He was a quiet guy but reliable nonetheless. Last but not least was another hybrid named Axel Raptor, a banshee and zombie mix whose apparent motto was living loud and large. He was good natured enough but damn could he get loud. Naruto just shook his head as he waited for the instructor to show up. There were a number of other students, but these were the most notable ones and they were his friends.

Lucy grumbled as she got to the head of the class. 'How in the hell did I get nailed with this job anyway?' she thought as she stood before all the students. "All right everyone, silence please," she said simply. When the room failed to quiet down, Lucy got pissed. "SHUT UP!" she roared, literally. Everyone quieted down as Lucy collected herself. "Okay everyone, today you'll be put into three to four man teams with an instructor. Afterwards you will meet up with your instructors and hopefully be out of my fur," she said causing some of them to chuckle. The teams were created based on abilities, species, and ability to work together. Things like power levels or class rank didn't really matter on the grounds that it didn't matter how strong you were if you couldn't get along with your teammates and thus couldn't learn. Also, each team was required to be a mix of male and female and a mix of human and darkstalker. She then began to read off names. Naruto listened as he and his classmates were sorted. Lucy listed off some teams before getting to him, "Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Shiva Maximof, and Anita Baine. Your instructors are Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. Team 8 shall be Leon Heterodyne, Verity-Y, and Jack Smith. Your instructor is Suzuka." She continued on, naming a couple other groups. "Team 10 will be Amethyst Heart, Axel Raptor, and Ria and Mia Talbain. Your instructor is Anko Mitarashi." She finished reading the names and teams. "All right, you'll meet with your instructors outside. Try not to get into too much trouble?" she said with Cheshire like grin.

The students filed out following their teachers. Team 7 met outside and headed to a park at the University before settling down. Mei-Ling was the first to speak. "Okay then, since we're all a bit new to this why don't we introduce ourselves. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes, dreams, and plans for the future," she said calmly. "I'll go first. As you know, my name is Mei-Ling. I like my sister, reading, and practicing my sorcery. I dislike fools, needless violence, and leaving behind friends. As for dreams, I don't really have any at the moment and as for plans for the future, I plan to keep my sister in line," she said with a grin and getting a snort from said sister.

The blue skinned sorceress sighed before going next. "Name's Hsien-Ko, I like weapons, my sister, and having fun with friends. I don't like hypocritical people. I have no dreams at the moment or plans for the future," she said simply. "Your turn bat girl," she said pointing to Shiva.

The hybrid just smirked at the Kuang-shi before speaking. "My name is Shiva Aensland Maximof; I like exploration, fighting, and finding new things. I dislike a majority of the demon nobility because they are so tight assed," she commented causing Hsien-Ko and Naruto to chuckle and everyone else to grin. "My dream is to be a great fighter like my mother and father and I plan on surpassing them," she said confidently. Hsien-Ko nodded to the succubus vampire hybrid and turned towards the fox boy.

Naruto grinned widely, showing off his sharp teeth. "Name's Naruto Talbain; I like training, pranks, my parents, and mimmoths," he said while licking his lips at the last one. "I dislike those who judge others on appearance or for things they can't control," he said softer this time and all of them knew what he was referring to. Though he had gotten a lot better in the past years, the memories of Konoha still flittered through his mind now and then. "And my dream is to be Youkai Kage!" he announced which caused both Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling to chuckle, one because they already knew that, hell everyone did, and two because everyone knew the kid had a good chance of doing so.

The small red haired girl was the last to introduce her self. "Anita Baine, I like my friends and father, I dislike those who judge on things they can't control, I have no dreams currently, and my plans are to fully master my abilities," she said simply and softly. That's how she was, speaking simply and not often, but when she did it was usually worth listening to. As for her abilities, no one was quite sure where they came from or what they were and thus she had been classified as humanoid rather than human. She was fine with this as she honestly thought being human was overrated. Her abilities were unable to be properly classified due to the fact that they imitated so many different energies. The redhead could call up spirits like her father, making them seem mystic in appearance, but she also had telekinesis which was a power of the Dark, and she had been able to resurrect her father at a young age, suggesting that her powers were Divine in nature. It was a puzzle even Sparks were having trouble figuring out.

Mei-Ling nodded, expecting as much from the quiet girl. "Okay then. Since we're just starting we'll just get to know each other better before we start training. For example, can you tell me what would be good qualities in a fighter?" she asked. This would help her get a better idea of how her students thought in battle and in general. Atum-Coma did not bother with testing their Genin at this point because they were just starting out. True in later generations they would have to limit who became ninja but not now when the city was so young.

Naruto was the first to speak. "Never be predictable! If you're predictable you can be easily caught," he said. That was an expected answer from him given his kitsune nature and the fact that he had pranked a number of people both human and darkstalker and gotten away with it … most of the time. The time he turned Demitri's hair into a bright cotton candy pink afro had nearly gotten him killed. It had taken a lot of calming and blackmail to get Demitri to not too seriously injure the boy. The vampire was just glad the prank hadn't been in public or word had gotten out about it other then to a few select individuals. Mei-Ling shook her head trying to hide her smile; her sister still chuckled from that prank.

Amethyst Heart sighed as she followed her instructor and her teammates. To be honest she was bored at the moment. They had already gone through introductions which had been interesting. Axel lived life loud and proud, Mia and Ria were nearly impossible to tell which was which and had one hell of a mischievous streak in them, and her instructor had an interesting history herself. Still, it wasn't like she had any room to talk. Going from a prisoner to a slightly psycho pirate of Nexus was more of a change then Anko's had been. The girl barely remembered anything from before she met her mother Ruby. Just a few flashes of a man with eyes like hers and not much else. She shrugged it off as she followed them to a training area with both Kir and Sharkey asleep on her back. No use dwelling on it now. "So, where we be heading?" she asked her instructor.

Anko looked back at her group and just smiled a fanged smile, not bothering with a Genjutsu today. In fact she rarely had one on whenever she was inside the city. "We're going to the Clockworks' Training Facility so I can get a better idea of your abilities and what you need to work on," the snake woman answered.

Axel pumped his fist in the air enthusiastically. "All right, this is gonna be fun!" he called out. Axel was a bit of an oddity among the undead as he was created through the union between two undead creatures, a zombie and a banshee. No one was sure how in the hell that happened, something to do with Zabel interrupting some ritual or something, she didn't know. His weapon of choice was various types of sound attacks both with and without his guitar. He wasn't bad as far as darkstalkers went. Music was his passion and could imitate just about any sound he wanted with his voice and or guitar, making him perfect for distractions and confusing the enemy. Amethyst; though she preferred to be called Amy by her friends, and him had more then once worked together before being assigned to this team. With him causing confusion while she and Kir slipped in to steal whatever they could to split with him later. It was always a fun time despite the fact that his loudness had backfired more then once. They'd need to do something about that.

"Yes it will be but," started the red haired cat girl.

"Which one of us," continued the blue haired one.

"Will have the most fun?" they finished together. Mia and Ria, the twin black furred cat girls, one with blue hair and the other with red. Amy shook her head; those two were rarely if ever apart and very few knew who was who. Those that did know and could tell them apart weren't telling. They were well known in the city as being, if you'll excuse the pun, cat burglars though they only stole minor things, mostly to annoy people. They were playful and could be very cunning when they wanted to be. The two cats were experts in cooperative combat. Even if they were paired with another partner they had an unnatural ability to work perfectly with said partner after a short time. The pirate smiled thinking about the sparing they were going to do. This definitely would be fun.

Suzuka sat calmly with her three students at the food stand at the end of the night. There had been introductions and some light sparring and now the woman had a good idea of what her students were capable of. She herself was a normal human who specialized in using various enhanced or magical weapons, such as her bokudo, which was a wooden sword that could channel her chakra into various attacks. She herself was in her early thirties, had long black hair, and wore a white robe like outfit with a sash around her waist. Her team had to be the most unusual of the Genin teams. It was made up of one Netherleaf, one Spark, and one Shadow Wraith.

First there was Verity-Y, the mushroom like plant girl. She had a specialty for healing that would grow as she did both literally and figuratively speaking. However she did have a slight temper, especially around vegetarians but that was common in Netherleafs. The girl was the offspring of the current Bloom, Vee. Unlike Vee, and most Netherleafs for that matter, Verity was much more emotional and expressive. Whether that was a just how she was created or the fact that she lived around so many other species was unknown but it was welcomed. Like most Netherleafs she preferred to change her body into various plant-like weapons and attacking or attacking from a distance using local flora. Next was Leon Wulfenbach, the young Spark. He was friendly and more or less the leader of the three. His specialty, unsurprisingly, was tactical analysis. He could analyze things very quickly and come up with a way to deal with them given what was at his disposal. To this end he carried a number of tools and inventions built into his own armor. While the Spark was above average in most areas thanks to his mind, he still needed some physical conditioning and what's more he needed to learn to control his Spark Madness a little better. Next was Jack Smith, the Shadow Wraith. He was quiet and calm, usually content to let the other two take the lead and follow them. The wraith rarely spoke but when he did it was usually worth listening to. His specialty was stealth and related attacks, mainly using any shadows in the area to his advantage. Jack's one quirk was that he liked to sketch things, a lot. It was considering the fact that there was very little known about Shadow Wraiths other then their abilities. All and all, her team was an interesting one.

**DARK TOME: ****Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Insectoid**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid**

**Spirit Bees:**Classification of this species is difficult. Some consider it a sub species of Soul Bee while others consider it a separate species. In any case, Spirit Bees contain many of the same traits as normal Soul Bees. In a one family of a Spirit Bee race, roughly 100-250 bees live together in a hive unlike Soul Bees who are limited to 100-150 bees. The leader of the family is called E-Bee. E-Bee is a title instead of a name. The others are either called P-Bee or just Bee. An E-Bee works to raise the next leader of the family. Out of the baby bees born, certain bees are born with a honey capsule, an organ that is used to concentrate and accumulate nutrition. This bee is raised to become the next E-Bee.

Within P-Bee's there are male and female with the ratio being 1:8. Their physical appearance is almost identical, with the male being slightly smaller. The male exists only to help reproduce. A male's regeneration ability is very weak compared to a female. And because the current Spirit Bee race has a very strong self-reproduction and regeneration system, it is possible to give birth to new Spirit Bee's without the help of a male. In the near future, the male Spirit Bee's will most likely disappear as the same for male Soul Bee's. However it should be noted that Spirit Bee's are capable of regulating this system far better then Soul Bee's to prevent over population which has been a noted problem in Soul Bee's.

Physically, Spirit Bee's are identical to their cousin the Soul Bee. One main difference between the two species is that while Soul Bee's tend to be yellow and dark purple in color, Spirit Bee's are a darker gold with dark blue instead. Like Soul Bee's, their true eyes are the large discs on their head. What seem to be their eyes on their face is actually an imitation used to deceive other creatures. Their sense of touch can catch the smell of food with a range that is said to reach several hundred kilometers. One of the main differences between Spirit and Soul Bee's is their intelligence level. Soul Bee's have an intelligence level equal to a human baby around 4-5 years old. They are able to carry on simple conversations. In contrast, Spirit Bee's have an intelligence equal to that of a human 15-18 years old and thus are far more capable of independent thought, but only to the extent that it will aid the hive. It should be noted that a Spirit Bee is completely incapable of betraying their hive in any fashion as far as they know or are capable of doing so. Like many darkstalkers, Spirit Bee's have enhanced strength and excellent flight capabilities. They also have very limited empathic abilities with one another, allowing them to function as a group very easily. This ability emerged due to their heightened intelligence in comparison to their Soul Bee cousins.

Their appetite is the second most important aspect of their behavior under service to the hive unlike Soul Bee's who are dominated by it. To them, everything that moves besides them selves and any allies of the hive is food that is meant to be caught. Their digestive ability is incredible and their stomach is rarely upset from eating a bad food. There have been those who have purposely tried to find a way to upset their stomachs, none have succeeded to date. Because their metabolism is incredibly high, they will die if they don't eat something. Not eating for 72 hours will kill them for sure.

The Spirit Bee's are a mutated variation of Soul Bee's, so there is not nearly as many of them in existence as their cousins. Considering their far lower numbers, they were dying out faster then Soul Bee's with very few options. Seeing a chance to leave the Lost Zone, E-Bee decided to ally with those in Atum-Coma and has not regretted the decision since. Due to their strength, flight, intelligence, teamwork, and their ability to create metal wax, a super strong flexible and versatile substance, they have been commissioned with a majority of the construction in Atum-Coma. Not only does this benefit the city, but gives it a strange defense in that the Spirit Bee's see the whole city as their hive (usually referring to it as such) with their central command being located in the Wilds. Also, as a bonus, the honey they create is one of a kind and is an expensive export of the city.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

AN: Someone commented that Bulleta would be 14 at most. Keep in mind that this fic takes place YEARS after the games, anime, and comics. Also keep in mind that darkstalkers, unlike normal humans, tend to age much slower. Also, someone else commented on the Jägermonsters' name. Look up Girl Genius Online as that's where I got them from since I didn't create them.

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 14: Mission Assignment

Naruto was sore, both literally and figuratively speaking. He and team 7 had been doing nothing but D rank missions ever since the team had been formed. True said missions wouldn't have been D rank in any other village, more like C rank, but in Atum-Coma they were. The missions ranged from things like round up stray animals in the Wilds, tracking down escaped minor experiments in Clockworks, pest control in Makai, to even helping organize the still expanding Nexus Library. That last one had been weird with Miss Readman. Sure the lady was really nice and friendly, if a bit ditzy and clumsy, but she had one quirk that just was weird, even by Nexus standards. The kitsune had never seen anyone with such a … addiction, for lack of a better term, to anything like that before, to books no less. Sure he himself loved to chow down on mimmoths but this had gone far beyond that. It looked like she was about to pass out in pleasure just from looking at one really old book. It was really creepy. In any case, team 7 was still stuck doing D ranked missions and quite frankly he was sick of it. The fox boy was still trying to get that stench of sewer gunk out of his fur from chasing those damned experiments. They hadn't been dangerous, just really hard to catch. In any case, he was still sore.

After getting dressed, he headed to the kitchen where his mother was making dinner. To others this may seem odd that he was just getting out of bed and it was dinner time, but considering Nexus was on the night shift while other villages were on the day shift, not too much. The catwoman smiled at her son as he sat down. Her nose wrinkled at the smell coming off his fur. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as when he came home from that mission the first time, but the smell was still lingering on his fur. She chuckled to herself he had showered numerous times to get rid of it with only so much success. Oh well, nothing to do about it now. "So Kit, ready for another day?" she asked as she lay breakfast in front of him which consisted of largely of various meat, some milk, fruit, and bread. It was pretty normal for bestial type darkstalkers.

The fox took a big bite of meat and quickly swallowed before answering. "I guess so. I just don't want another sewer mission. I know Anita and Shiva are as annoyed with these missions as I am," he said as he took another bite.

Felicia shrugged. "Not much you can do. By the way your dad already left, said some renegades were planning on a feeding frenzy just outside of Nexus. Your basic idiots," she explained as she took a large bite of sushi. Naruto nodded, knowing what she was talking about. There were a few darkstalkers who didn't like the law stating that no human of Nexus may be fed on to the point of near death or beyond, especially without their permission. Darkstalkers could feed on humans as long as the humans agreed to it and that they didn't kill the human or do it anywhere close to that point. Feeding on humans' energy/chakra/blood/souls was common in Nexus and was actually encouraged. It had a strange side effect on the humans in Nexus. Since the humans who were being drained over and over weren't killed and was allowed to recover, their bodies adapted to it by producing more energy/chakra, having their souls become larger and stronger, and producing more and healthier blood. It was basically the same thing as training your body, you wear it out and test it and eventually it gets used to the strain so that it's not a problem anymore. However, some darkstalkers didn't like the idea of letting humans live thus continued the "tradition" of sucking them dry. True there weren't nearly as many as there were a few years ago when the city was founded, but there were still some running around. So it was Jon's job as head of the Hunter Nin to track and bring them down by any means necessary.

"Okay then, I'll see you later mom," the fox boy said as he left to meet up with his team. He made his way to training area 12 in the Wilds. It was their normal meeting area in a small clearing with various plants and such all around. As usual Anita was there early while he and Shiva arrived on time. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling would come anywhere from a few minutes early to fifteen minutes late depending on how quickly Mei-Ling could drag her sister out of her coffin. Despite being a former top class hunter of the Dark and being a Kuang-shi for a couple hundred years, she still had a few of her human quirks, such as being partial to sleeping in. "Hey Anita, Shiva, Origami and the Blueberry haven't showed up yet huh?" he asked using his nicknames for their teachers. When he had first seen Mei-Ling become a paper seal to better control her sister's powers and instincts he had lost it and laughed to no end, asking if she was able to become an origami crane in that form. Needless to say, he got pummeled for that. Unfortunately for the sisters, the nicknames stuck but didn't mind them as much anymore, knowing that Naruto meant them only in affectionate terms.

Shiva shook her head as Anita giggled at the nicknames. "I'm sorry to say they have not. I do hope they have a better mission this time. As interesting as that hunt in the sewers was, I hope not to repeat it," she said calmly though both Naruto and Anita knew she meant that she would sooner give up blood sucking then do through that again.

Just as she spoke, said sorceress sisters appeared, both in their usual attire. "Good to see all of you here," Mei-Ling said kindly. "We've been given a C class mission outside of Atum-Coma," she stated plainly knowing it would perk them all up, which it did. "We are to protect and deliver a special message and report to Konoha's Hokage." Naruto's eyes widened at this. None of them said anything for a moment, letting the information sink in before continuing. "Since we'll be traveling, I want all of you to go and pack everything you think you'll need and nothing more. Also, since we will be leaving the city we will need to go in our human forms." All of them groaned, even Hsien-Ko. "We'll meet back here in an hour," she explained simply.

The blue sorceress moaned. "Oh man, I hate being in human form on missions. I always feel so awkward like that!" she complained. It was a common feeling among the group, even Anita who had to tone down her powers to be able to into human cities. Shiva and Mei-Ling didn't mind it as much as succubae disguised themselves as humans all the time and the sorceress basically looked human, but that didn't mean they had to like it. Many, including Naruto and Hsien-Ko would describe it as hiding yourself, your true self … either that or being in a spandex suit a size too small. "Ah crud," she said again causing her sister to chuckle.

The group met later at the Outer Territory not far from the Wilds. They were using a small wagon with a covered tarp and the guise of a merchant family. The less attention they drew the better. Shiva wore simple shirt, pants, and a cloak. Underneath that she wore a tight form fitting black outfit with light weight armor. Anita wore a smaller dark red version of Mei-Ling's battle robes minus the hat, also with a cloak. Mei-Ling would be driving the wagon with Shiva next to her. Hsien-Ko would simply rest in a coffin under a tarp, waiting just in case she was needed. Naruto and Anita would sit in the back to keep an eye both on the message itself and any possible assailants. The cart was pulled by a regular horse which was rare in Atum-Coma given the various machinations of the Sparks. This made the trip almost painfully slow and even worse they were forced to travel in broad daylight, which none of them were completely used to. Add to the fact that they were all forced to appear human and it made them all a little irritable. Shiva snorted at Naruto's unconscious growling. "Would you please desist in that whining of yours, it's giving me a headache," the hybrid said irritably. All she got was a louder growl in return. Anita sighed, despite having a better disposition then most demon nobles, Shiva could get annoyed easily.

Before the argument could continue, Mei-Ling looked up followed closely by the rest of them minus Hsien-Ko who was still resting in the coffin. There was someone nearby. They all stood up gazing at the trees and area around them, looking for what had tripped their senses off. It only took them a second to identify the threat. The yellow clad sorceress made a hand seal and released a pulse of chakra, disabling any Genjutsu in the area, revealing a group of human ninja whose headbands bore a musical note. They seemed to be a group of low class Chunin with a low class Jonin. "Now then, what would Sound ninja want with us?" she asked pleasantly.

The Jonin, a young man about the same height as her dressed in dark clothes with a few furs attached, came forward "That's simple. You see there is very little known about those in Nexus other then the wild rumors that fly around. So naturally people are curious about you like our master. You will be coming with us," he said as he drew a kunai.

Mei-Ling and the three Genin all stood up getting ready to fight. Hsien-Ko remained where she was for the simple fact that she didn't want to reveal herself just yet and she wanted to let the kids have some fun. Each of the Genin went after a different Chunin while Mei-Ling stayed with the Jonin. The sorceress drew a katana blade with strange runes on it. "I doubt we'll be going anywhere with you," she said calmly before she started to chant quietly, causing the blade to give off a strange blue mist. If the Jonin was startled by this he didn't show it as she dashed right at him with her blade poised to strike. He blocked with his kunai, however he immediately let go and jumped away as it became deadly cold, almost giving him instant frostbite. Mei-Ling smirked, while she wasn't a spectacular swordswoman, she knew enough and combined with her spells she could more then hold her own in a fight. This was going to be fun.

Shiva went after one of the Chunin. He was shorter then the Jonin with a strange silver device attached to his right forearm. "Well then little girl, I am Rotan guess I'm the one you'll be playing with," he said smugly.

Shiva snorted. "I've have seen many men in my short time, will you be weak and pathetic like the others?" she said simply before launching a _Soul Fist_ at him. The sound ninja was stunned by the attack but still dodged before it hit, completely obliterating the tree behind him. Shiva smiled as she dashed at him, fighting fast and furious. Rotan barely had time to counter her attacks as she wasn't giving him a chance to do any hand seals. Seeing no other choice, he channeled chakra into the Melody Arm and repulsed her away with a concentrated blast of sound. The blast didn't hurt her at all as she gracefully landed a few feet away, still smiling softly to herself. "So you attack with sound, interesting. Let's see what limits your weapon has shall we?" she said as she discarded her human facade since she had no intention of letting this man live. Large dark purple bat wings erupted from her back with a smaller pair appearing out of the top of her head. Her body also changed, becoming more beautiful and gaining a bit more muscle, not a lot but enough to tell the difference. Her hair changed from a common brown to a pristine purple color that was a few shades darker then her aunt Lillith's.

Rotan backed up in surprise and fear as the seemingly normal Genin in front of him changed into something else. He was no fool, he had seen some pretty wild blood limits here and there but nothing like what this girl just did and he knew it wasn't a genjutsu there wasn't any release of chakra to indicate that. Not wanting to find out what this transformation meant, he sent out another blast of sound. The girl dodged by changing the wings on her back into some kind of rocket or something, he wasn't sure what, and shooting straight up with ease. He sent more blasts, but she bobbed and weaved past them with a dancer's grace, her wings giving her the necessary speed to dodge the waves of sound. "Damn it, what the hell are you?" he asked panicked after seeing how easily she moved in the air. She just smiled as her wings changed again, becoming spear tipped tentacles that shot towards him at a blinding speed. He jumped out of the way as the spears hit, ripping up the earth easily. Just as he got past them, another flaming demon skull came his way. Unable to dodge, he blocked it with his arms, getting blown back by the force of the blast.

Shiva laughed as the human was struck by her _Soul Fist_. However, just as she flew in low to finish him, he did a number of quick hand seals and then sent an extremely wide blast of sound. Unable to dodge it, she brought her wings up to shield her in mid air as the demoness was blown backwards and into a tree. 'Well, seems this won't be as easy as I had guessed,' she thought as she took to the air again. The sound ninja was now using much wider blasts then before, making it hard for the demoness to dodge and counter. 'Insolent human, I've had it with this game,' she snarled to herself as another sound blast came.

Rotan smiled as the demon bitch kept her distance. Now that he was using _Booming Sound Punch_ she couldn't get close enough to use those damn wings of hers on him. He smiled wider as one of his blasts finally hit, sending her to the ground. She kneeled on the ground, apparently injured from the blast. "Now to take you out bat bitch!" he cried as he cranked his Melody Arm up to full power to rip her insides apart. However, just as he reached the max level, there was a rumbling right below his feet. He looked down in surprise as the same tentacles from before erupted out of the ground, stabbing his legs and arms and immobilizing him quite painfully. His Melody Arm along with his attack was crushed as the rest of the tentacles erupted in a line from the ground going right back to the girl who looked up smiling with glowing dark purple eyes and glistening fangs. "Damn it! You sent them underground when I thought you were injured!" he cried as he was pulled towards the demoness.

Shiva just smiled. "Of course, don't you know the old saying? There's more then one way to skin a human," she said just before she pounced on her helpless prey's neck and began to drain him dry, enjoying the taste of his warrior's blood.

Anita stared down her opponent with her usual emotionless mask. Her cloak had been discarded and her sacred beads were no longer wrapped around her body. They floated in front of her in an intricate circle like pattern and glowing light blue. The Chunin she was facing, having named himself Hysteron, was sending out constant blasts of sound from strange devices implanted in his arms. The man laughed as she was bombarded, unaware of the quiet chanting she was doing due to the sheer noise level of his attacks.

He finally relented after seeing her go to one knee though the strange beads remained in place. "What's the matter girly can't face the music?" he cackled. However, his laugh was cut short as the beads retracted and quickly formed into a strange triangle around the girl, crackling with electricity as they glow neon blue. Immediately a large beast appeared above the girl, same color as the beads, in the shape of a large tiger or lion made out of lightning. The girl's hair became spiked from all the electricity as her eyes blazed with it. She thrust out her hand in an attack as both she and the beast roared, releasing a barrage of lightning bolts. Unable to do anything, Hysteron was struck by multiple lightning strikes, surging through his body and frying him from the inside out. Once the attack was finished, the beast and the glow faded as the beads returned to their normal place wrapped around her body. Anita was breathing hard as that attack took up a lot of chakra, even for someone like her who used spells often. Still, it was worth it to shut that moron up for good.

Naruto stood facing the third sound Chunin, crouched low to the ground and snarling at him. The Chunin in question, Rojas, was frustrated. None of his attacks could hit this kid as he was a lot faster then he appeared. He had been dodging all of his kunai and shuriken and he couldn't land a solid hit on the brat at close range because he was on all fours so much. He had heard of ninjas who took on the characteristics of animals, but usually they had said animals with them while this boy did not. "That does it!" he cried as he started releasing waves of _Shuriken Shadow Clone _and_ Kunai Shadow Clone_ at the boy. He was going to nail this brat even if he had to turn the entire forest into a pin cushion.

The fox boy snarled as he ran to dodge. He immediately went into a _Rolling Buckler,_ moving along the ground as kunai and shuriken flew past. Rojas launched wave after wave as the boy rolled towards him with blinding speed. Once he got close enough he uncurled, planted his feet in the ground, and delivered a powerful kick to the guy's gut. Charging his other foot with chakra he delivered a _Climb Razor_ at point blank range, launching them both into the air. In mid air, Naruto separated from the sound Chunin, twisted around with his foot, still charged with chakra, and slammed it into the exact same spot he had kicked just a second ago. The Chunin went flying back from the force of the kick and crashed into a rock, effectively knocking him down for the count. Naruto just grinned his trademark grin.

Mei-Ling stood over the form of her fallen adversary. The Jonin had tried a number of attacks, most of which weren't nearly as effective as he had thought they'd be for several reasons. One, she was far more experienced and skilled then him, two she was a former hunter thus knew how to counter many different things, and three she was already dead, not much you could do to a dead person unless you knew specifically what would work, which this guy didn't. His body was now pale and lifeless with his soul trapped in a gemstone in her palm. 'Pathetic little man,' she thought as she turned to see her students return with their opponents, or rather what was left of them. Anita's looked like a human lightning rod, Naruto's looked like a slab of tenderized meat, and Shiva's looked like a withered mummy. The yellow clad sorceress sighed to herself. 'Better call in a clean up crew,' she thought with a small smile.

A few days later the cart containing one yellow robed woman, three kids, and some supplies appeared at the gates of Konoha. They were stopped by the guards there. "Halt, state where you're from and your business here," one of the guards stated clearly. The brown haired woman just smiled and handed the guard a scroll.

"We're from Atum-Coma and we're here to see the Hokage," she stated pleasantly. The guards' eyes widened before clearing them to pass. "Thank you." The woman drove the cart into the Village Hidden in the Leaves, leaving two befuddled and slightly worried guards behind her.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Soul Fist:** A long range projectile type attack. The user concentrates their power of the Dark into their fist and releases it in the form of a flaming demonic skull. The intensity, power, and even the form of the attack vary from user to user. This attack is mostly used by the demon aristocracy along with many fire based darkstalkers.

**Spear of Light:** Another long range projectile attack. Instead of using the power of the Dark, the user uses Holy power instead to send out a bolt of Holy energy. Usually used by priests, priestesses, etc.

**Kunai Shadow Clone/Shuriken: **A ninjutsu technique used in conjunction with shuriken or kunai. This technique creates shadows clones of the thrown weapon in mid air, thus turning one weapon into a barrage. Used by various ninjas.

**Climb Razor:** A taijutsu move in which the user launches themselves with one foot while charging the other with energy, creating a powerful uppercut kick that has been known to launch opponents skyward given enough power. This move is used by various taijutsu specialists. Note: Should the user have claws on their feet while doing this move, it has been known to literally cut through various substantial and insubstantial things given enough power.

**Booming Sound Punch:** A sound based attack generated from a Melody Arm. It is long range with a wide area of fire. However, the user must be firmly planted to the ground otherwise the recoil will send them flying backwards. Used mostly by Sound ninjas.

**Grand Fireball:** A fire style ninjutsu in which the user does a number of hand seals and breathes out a massive ball of fire in a straight blast. Commonly used by ninjas, especially those in Fire country.

**Rising Soul Blade:** A special type of attack used by magic users who are also adept with weapons. The user slams their hands into the ground, releasing their own mystic energies, be it of the Dark or Divine, while forming them into blades that erupt from the ground in a wave. The more power and control the user has, the larger and more blades there are and the longer the wave. So far the only one who can do this attack is Hsien-Ko since she is the only one with enough power, control, mystical ability, and weapon ability to do it properly. Most other magic users concentrate on magic and do not bother with weapons other then the basics. Others who have tried usually end up with just one small blade rising right under them rather then in front of them. Not pleasant, but good for a laugh.

**Chinese Bomb:** Another attack that requires both mystic and weapon ability. The user concentrates their mystic energies into a small area, forming it into a bomb. This requires a great amount of control to form it correctly and extensive knowledge. Once the bomb is formed, it can be thrown and moved just like a normal explosive. The energies in the bomb will be the same as the user and thus the effects may be different depending on the user. Again, the only one currently able to do this move is Hsien-Ko.

**Summoning:** A ninjutsu where the users sacrifices a small bit of blood and chakra to summon a creature to which the user has a contract with. The more power used in the jutsu the more powerful the summoned creature will be. It is also possible to summon multiple creatures at one time given enough control and power. Though uncommon, it is possible for one user to have multiple contracts though this may lead to some problems later if the user is unable to handle them all.

**Dream Dust:** Not so much a technique as an ability used by jungle and forest type Netherleafs. The Netherleaf sprays out a type of pollen or spore that causes deep sleep to any living non plant creature that breaths it in. It isn't lethal and can be washed away, it will give the victim one hell of headache. This technique is usually used to capture prisoners or prey that gets into a Netherleaf's area.

AN: Sorry it took so long to update. Life and writer's block got in the way plus I'll be moving soon so things are even more hectic. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Thanks again for everyone's reviews and support.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 15: Strangers in a Strange Land

Team 7 of Nexus, minus one, walked through the tower to meet with the Hokage. Mei-Ling led the way with her three Genin following quietly behind her. Personally the sorceress wanted to be done with this and back in Atum-Coma as soon as possible for multiple reasons. First was that the longer they were here, the longer Hsien-Ko would have to "play" dead and thus the more restless she would get, which was not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination. The other was that a number of ninjas were here and they might figure out that she and her team weren't entirely human and that could be trouble at this point. The last and probably most important reason was Naruto who had been uneasy ever since he had stepped foot in this village. Despite wearing black and red clothes instead of orange, being older, trained, and not exactly the same person who was chased out of here, Naruto was still edgy. He had very few good memories of this place and more nightmarish ones then he'd care to admit to anyone with the possible exception of his mother and father. There was also the very likely problem of people recognizing him. Many of the people in the streets had looked at him funny as if seeing him before but not knowing where. It would not bode well for anyone if the wrong people recognized him before it was the proper time.

One thing the yellow robed sorceress was glad for was having Anita and Shiva there with him. Anita stood close to him, providing silent support while Shiva was a bit more active, warding off attention from him onto her self which was easy for someone with succubus blood in their veins. Despite being a team for only a short time, the three had known each other for years before this and thus were decent friends to begin with. 'I just hope it will be enough while we're here,' she thought as they entered the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi looked up at the messengers that had come from Nexus. It was a Genin team with the Jonin being a young woman with short brown hair dressed in what looked like yellow priestess robes but of a slightly different in style then what he had seen before. The three Genin consisted of a lovely young girl in a tight black armored suit with long dark hair, another girl with reddish brown hair dressed in a tighter fitting red version of what the Jonin was wearing with beads wrapped around her, and a young blonde boy in black pants, vest, and gauntlets with a dark red trim. The first girl had an almost unnatural beauty to her that the old ninja couldn't put his finger on. The second girl seemed a complete emotionless void and yet held something in her eyes that bothered him to no end. The boy with fire like hair was the most interesting. He had a feral look to him similar to the Inuzukas. He looked familiar but the old man could place where at the moment. It was six in the morning after all. The old man focused on the woman in front of him before his mind wandered further. "Now then, I understand you have a message for me?" he asked kindly.

The woman smiled and bowed in respect. "Yes, I and my team have brought you Nexus's formal request to be in the Chunin exams as well as a notification that we will be coming out of hiding as it were. We also brought Anko's reports," she said as she handed the documents to the old man. "Also, Atum-Coma wishes to formally make an alliance with Konoha and thus the Youkai Kage wishes to negotiate terms of the alliance." Sarutobi's eyes widened at these words. Nexus had been a mysterious place and now they wanted an alliance with the Leaf? Things were really starting to get interesting now. "My team and I will be staying here a week or so before we have to return with your answer. If you have it earlier or need more time that is fine as well. However we would like know before the Chunin exams if you please," she explained calmly.

The Hokage nodded. "I will have to call a council with all the clans, but I don't expect there to be any problems in regards to allowing Nexus to compete in the Chunin exams," he said carefully.

The woman nodded however before any of them could speak something weird happened, for Leaf standards anyway. A small boy appeared out of a poorly disguised plant dressed in a scarf with a pony tail holding a kunai. "Your time has come old man!" he cried out before tripping and falling flat on his face. The Hokage sighed as the blonde boy broke out in hysterical laughter. Mei-Ling smiled softly to herself, relieved that Naruto was laughing in this place. The small boy then turned towards the blonde who happened to be the closest to him. "You! You tripped me!" he accused.

Naruto gained a surprised look before snarling at the boy. "Not my fault you tripped over your own two feet you little brat!" Naruto replied insulted. He picked up the boy by the collar just as a man in a black bandana and sunglasses came in.

"Honorable grandson! Where are you?" he cried before noticing said grandson being held by his collar by a boy with flame like hair. "You! Put him down! That is Konohamaru the honorable grandson of the Hokage!" he cried out. Naruto just looked at the small boy who was smirking in triumph now. He was so sure this guy would be no different then the rest of them and would put him and apologize immediately. That illusion was broken when said guy grabbed him by his underwear and pulled it over his head in an atomic wedgie.

"I don't care who you are! What kind of idiot attacks a Kage in a room full of ninja, trips over his own attack, then blames it on someone else?" Naruto held the brat by his underwear which was now over his head, opened one of the side doors and drop kicked the boy out the door much to the annoyance of the Hokage, the horror of the trainer, and the amusement of his team.

Mei-Ling sighed though she was smiling as well. "Was that really necessary Naruto?" she asked tiredly. She and her Genin had been awake all day and it was seriously messing with their sleeping schedule.

Sarutobi's head shot up at the name and turned to get a really good look at the fire haired boy. It was then he noticed the strike blue eyes and the thick whisker marks on his cheeks. "Naruto?" he asked quietly. The boy turned to him and made a foxy grin while scratching the back of his head. The Hokage couldn't believe it. He had thought Naruto dead years ago and yet here he was safe and apparently a ninja of another village. He got up and did something that surprised everyone in the room. He hugged Naruto with a few tears leaking out of his eyes. "Where have you been? I thought you were dead," the old man explained.

Anita and Shiva both smiled as they watched Naruto reunite with an old friend. It seems his stories of the Hokage being one of the few people who cared about him were not exaggerated. Mei-Ling also smiled glad to see her student's tension relieved somewhat. However, Ebisu was not happy. In fact he was downright shocked and scared. The Kyuubi brat was alive … and he was a ninja for another country that, according to rumors, was filled with monsters? Forgetting about Konohamaru, he turned and ran towards the first place he could think of that would have a lot ninjas in it. He ran to a bar that was unofficially exclusive to ninjas, bursting into the place and causing everyone to look at him in curiosity at what had the normally tight-assed Jonin so flustered.

"Ebisu, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Asuma said good-naturedly while steadying the man.

"Not a ghost … a demon," Ebisu replied catching everyone in the bar's attention. "I was looking for my charge in the Hokage's tower and followed him into Lord Hokage's office. There a Genin team from Hidden Nexus was speaking with the Hokage about something. What I don't know but that's not what shocked me." Everyone looked at each other uncomfortable with that implication. Rumors about Nexus had been flying around for some time with only Anko's reports correcting them and even then she was vague in descriptions of what was actually going on in that country. "HE was there! I thought he was dead but he isn't! He's here!" Ebisu cried out in near panic.

"Who's here? What are you talking about?" Kurenai asked urgently.

"Naruto Uzumaki! He's alive and he's here with the Genin team from Nexus," Ebisu explain causing everyone's eyes to widen. They had thought the boy dead six years ago but they had never found a body. The Hokage as well as some of the ninja had been enraged at the civilians and ninjas involved in that incident. Needless to say the results had not been pretty and people had been reluctant to go against the Hokage ever since in fear of making him that angry again. Many never suspected he could get that mad. Now they were hearing that the Kyuubi container was alive and in a Genin team? This was a little too much for some of them to handle.

Naruto and his team walked down the street seeing the sights. It was fun for Naruto to play tour guide despite having not been in this village for years. Seeing old man Hokage eased the tension he had since coming here. He hadn't told the old man everything, just enough to assure him that he was doing fine and happy in Nexus. Sarutobi was happy to hear that Naruto had a family and had friends now. True he wanted Naruto to find those things in Konoha, but after the village attempting to kill him he was just happy he had found them at all. He was even surprised to hear how well he was treated despite knowing about the Kyuubi and what it had done. The Hokage had sighed, wishing his own people could be that accepting. Oh well, it had been nice for the two old friends to see each other again.

The group walked until they passed by the Konoha Ninja Academy. Naruto stopped and stared at the building. In front of his eyes ghosts of kids running up to their proud parents who picked them up. All of them were happy and chatting excitedly not noticing a small child sitting on a rickety swing right across from the Academy. The child was small with dirty blonde colored hair dressed in an orange suit that wasn't much better then rags. The child's eyes gazed at the children and parents longingly, wishing he could go up and join them. To laugh and smile for real instead of the illusion he usually used. Naruto walked up to the phantom child oblivious of his team behind him. The child and the people faded, leaving only a worn swing with years of dust on it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Anita looking at him with concerned eyes, as if she too had seen the ghosts of his past. He smiled at her, easing her worry as the group continued on, not noticing or not caring about the number of eyes that watched them.

Kakashi and a few other Jonin watched the group as they toured the city, still not believing that the boy was alive. That day six years ago he had gone into a cave, a dead end, and had simply vanished in a surge of energy. No one knew what happened but many thought that the seal had broken causing both Naruto and Kyuubi to self destruct. However some of those who hadn't seen the boy as a demon weren't so sure of this given the fact that there weren't any remains, of either Naruto or Kyuubi. Kakashi was one of those people and now was curious about Naruto's new group. On a whim he lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan eye and what he saw made both his eyes widen in surprise. He knew that normal humans had a light blue chakra aura around them that moved around their bodies a short distance like smoke. None of the people in the Nexus Genin team had chakra like that. Naruto's, while he was expecting a little red chakra from Kyuubi, was ALL red and flared around his body like a bonfire. The pretty dark haired girl's chakra was pitch black and weaved around her body like he had seen the Nara clan's shadow jutsus did. The other two really worried the copy ninja as the young woman who he assumed was their Jonin instructor had purple chakra just like that darkstalker he had met years ago. The last of their group, the dark red haired girl, had chakra like he had never seen before. It was a chaotic mix of color that swirled around her in different formations. Some places it moved like fire, others wind, a few places like shadow, and many other ways. This worried the copy ninja to no end. He vanished to go inform the Hokage immediately about his findings.

Naruto led his team to one of the few place in Konoha that he loved, Ichiraku's ramen stand. He was happy to see the place was still in business with three customers already there, a dark haired boy in a blue shirt, another dark haired boy with a sword on his back, and a pink haired girl in red. Needless to say, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were shocked to see one of their best customers return from the grave. "Well I'll be. I had heard a few rumors but I didn't want to believe them. Where you been Naruto and who're your friends?" the old man asked as he started boiling the noodles for the ramen.

Naruto just grinned as he sat down with his team, ignoring the curious eyes of the others patrons in the stand. "Nice to see you too old man. These are my teammates Shiva and Anita, and Ori …Mei-Ling my Jonin instructor," he covered up before he let slip her nickname. He didn't want to have to explain that just yet, especially when they still thought the group was human. They ordered their ramen and began to chat, Ayame giggling after he had introduced his teammates.

"Oh are they your girlfriends?" Ayame teased causing the fox boy to blush. The girls smiled at his embarrassment. "So where have you been all this time?" she asked.

"Oh, I've been in Nexus," he stated simply.

Before he could speak further however, the boy in the blue shirt spoke up. "So it's true. Nexus has finally sent out a Genin team," he said calmly. Naruto turned and blue eyes with black slits met completely black ones.

**DARK TOME: Chakra**

Chakra is the common form of energy used by ninjas to power their various jutsus. It is mixture of the energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. Once mixed, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points on the (human) body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water.

Depending on the ratio in which physical and spiritual energy is mixed, different types of chakra can be formed. Elemental chakra is the most common product of this, and is used to perform elemental jutsu. The five elemental natures are earth, fire, lightning, water, and wind. Most ninja have a natural affinity to one type of chakra, but have the capacity to create elemental chakra apart from their own affinity. Each element is both stronger and weaker than another. The order is fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water, with each being weaker than the previous and stronger than the next. Water loops back into fire. Additionally, elemental techniques can be countered by techniques of the same element, provided the technique being countered is of equal or lesser power.

Darkstalkers however are much different then normal due to the fact that their bodies, spirits, and natural abilities are far different. Firstly, their chakra circulatory system is much different in that there is no standard for it. For example, catwomen in their humanoid form have circulatory systems similar to humans' but are much more elastic and have 386 chakra points instead of 361 with the additional points being in their more inhuman parts; ten in their finger claws, ten in their toe claws, three in the tail, and one for each of their ears. Also, when catwomen shift to their feline form their system also changes to accommodate that form. Thus their system adjusts and their points rearrange and subtract, meaning they have a simpler system and less chakra points in cat form then in humanoid form. For darkstalkers like netherleafs, their system doesn't have chakra points at all since they can shape shift into anything they want and thus their whole system acts like one big chakra point. For undead and experimental type darkstalkers the system varies from individual to individual.

Another aspect of darkstalkers that makes their chakra hard to understand is the power of the Dark and the power of the Light. It is unknown what these forces are exactly or why they appear in individuals like they do. What is known is that the Dark and Light are opposite forces that act both and against and with each other. It is also known that those that use these forces all share a few similar minor traits. These traits are extremely subtle and can be overridden by the individual's normal nature. Users of the Dark tend to prefer night time to day. Also, they tend be slightly more feral in nature, not a lot but enough that a difference can be noted. On the opposite side, users of the Light tend to prefer the day and tend to be more refined in nature. Again these traits are not obvious or drastic by any stretch, but are still there. Darkstalkers are able to access one or the other, in extremely rare cases both, in large quantities to augment their abilities and grant them extreme power. What these forces do to a user varies from individual to individual. Humans have the potential to access either of them given the right circumstances and training.

A key difference is the nature of their chakra. While human chakra is blank and can be molded into other forms through hand seals, darkstalker chakra is different. While human chakra can have an elemental affinity and thus make it easier to use jutsu of the same affinity, darkstalkers take this a step further. Many types of darkstalkers have their chakra in a "ready to use" form of sorts. For example, a fire type darkstalker will be able to use fire jutsu without hand seals and just chakra control because his chakra is literally made to become that element. On the other hand, if that same darkstalker tried to use a water jutsu, he'd have to use hand seals as well as exceptional control since his chakra was not made for that element, even more so since water is opposite of what his chakra was made to become. However, if he were to use a lightning jutsu he would still need to use hand seals but it would be incredible easy for him since his chakra is suited for a similar element. For jutsu that have no elemental affinity, he will have to do the standard method of execution for that jutsu.

A minor difference between human and darkstalker chakras is color. Humans' chakra is light blue when seen by those who can see chakra. Darkstalker chakra colors vary from type to type. Darkstalkers with no distinct elemental affinity such as bestial and insect are dark blue, undead is purple, demonic is black, divine and holy are white, fire is red, water is blue green, earth is gold, air is light green, plant and forest are dark green, and lightning is light purple. There have been a few instances where hybrids' (to be defined in a later entry) chakra can be two or more colors/types but this is rare as usually they are dominated by one or the other. There has also been one recorded case of a person's chakra being kaleidoscopic, multicolored showing traces of ALL of the types. How this happened or why is still being investigated and is under study until further notice.

AN: Someone commented on Anita's age. Since I'm basing this on the anime and comics much more then the games, I'd place her at about a year older then Naruto is, placing her at 13 right now. It was also mentioned that Naruto gained his second tail too fast since normally Kitsune gain one every 10 years. I've also heard it is every 100 years. Either way it doesn't apply to Naruto in my story because he is not a normal Kitsune. For starters his blood is a mix of kitsune, werewolf, and catwoman. Second, he already has the power of nine tails he just can't handle it all right away, that's what the seal on his stomach is for. I'll explain this better later. Don't expect chapters to always come out this fast, I've just had a bit of free time and knew what I wanted for this chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 16: Meetings

The council sat in silence as Sarutobi relayed the treaty sent by Nexus. Many were concerned, others interested, and a few had no visible reaction. Once he was done they all looked at each other in question. Hiashi Hyuuga looked grim and was the first to speak. "What of Anko's report? Does she offer any insight into this treaty?"

The Hokage brought out the report before relaying its contents. "According to Anko's report, those in Nexus wish an alliance not only to help solidify themselves in the Elemental countries, but to aid with inland trade and such. They seem to have much to offer in terms of technology and power," the old man explained. "They are capable of flight and wonders I cannot even begin to list. It's all in Anko's report now. It also seems she'll be coming back for the Chunin exams so we'll have a better idea then."

The matron of the Inuzukas, Tsume frowned. "They want to be our allies and yet what do we truly know about them? We know nothing of them as a people or what they're like," she said voicing her concern. Hidden Mist came to mind with some of their brutal testing of their Genin.

The Hokage just chuckled at this question. "Actually from what I've been told they are very diverse people. One of their Monarchs, a leader of a district in their city, I'm told is actually a very kind woman with an intense interest in the arts. Their head Hunter Ninja, I'm also told is an honorable man who will protect those close to him. I've even been told a bit about their leader, called the Youkai Kage. He seems to be an honorable man with an intense dedication to his people. In fact from what I understand Hiashi, you'd get along fine with him," he said with a smile causing the Hyuuga to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Where exactly did you get this information? I don't remember anything like this mentioned in Anko's reports," Shikaku Nara asked concerned. "Mostly she just talked about their construction and general activities. Nothing was said about the people themselves."

"I recently acquired this information from an old friend who I had thought was dead but isn't. Naruto Talbain," he said simply while he judged their reactions. They all knew who he meant and thus reacted differently. A few of the elders' faces turned to those of hatred that the Hokage had seen a number of times before. Most were simply surprised such as Tsume and Inoichi Yamanaka. Some like Hiashi and Shibi Aburame had no visible reaction but the old man could tell this bit of news affected them. The entire village had assumed the Kyuubi container had died in that mob. The truth was that the body was never found especially given the circumstances of his disappearance. Reports said there was a massive surge of Kyuubi's demonic chakra and then … nothing. It was as if the boy had disappeared from the face of the earth. Some had thought another village had captured him to use him as a weapon. Others thought the seal had failed leading to a self destruct. A few even thought it had been a diversion or trick of the fox to save his own hide to strike at them later. The remaining ones had no clue what to think as having little or no contact with the boy.

Shibi Aburame raised an eyebrow in question. "So the container is alive and part of a strange city it seems. Do you know his feelings towards Konoha?" the bug user asked, voicing the question that everyone had on their minds.

Sarutobi was hoping someone would ask that. "Naruto seems to harbor no ill intent towards Konoha. As far as he's concerned Konoha is a place he used to live in where a few of his friends now live in. In fact, I was given the impression that it was he who suggested this alliance with us in Nexus." Many of the clan leaders looked surprised and confused at this. They started whispering to each other, wondering what to do. "I see this is requires more thought. This meeting is adjourned for now. I want all of you to consider carefully this alliance with Atum-Coma, this is not something we can turn down lightly," he said in all seriousness. They nodded and departed for their homes, their minds focused on what they had learned.

Naruto and the black eyed boy stared at each other. The kitsune blinked while Shiva and Anita looked at the two teammates. Shiva was looking at the pink haired girl while Anita stared at the boy who seemed even more emotionless then her. "Yeah, we're team 7 of Atum-Coma," Naruto stated.

The boy just raised an eyebrow. He motioned to his two companions, "We're team 7 of Konoha. So what's a team from Nexus doing here?" he asked calmly.

Shiva answered before Naruto, "Isn't it required that one introduces themselves first before asking such questions?" she said smugly while turning her attention to the boy with an almost predatory gaze. The hybrid could feel it in her blood this one matched her taste in some fashion. It was subtle and hidden, but it was there all the same. She would have to watch this one closely.

The boy frowned before speaking. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha; this is Sakura Haruno and Sai."

"I'm Naruto Talbain, this is Shiva Maximof, Anita Blain, and one of our instructors Mei-Ling," he said motioning to each. "Her sister, our other instructor, is sick for the time being and couldn't come here," he lied smoothly. Naruto had done this many times before for pranks and other minor missions. True if he had tried to lie to his parents it wouldn't be like trying to convince Zabel Raptor to take up opera, in other words no chance in hell. "Anyway we were delivering something to the Hokage. What it was I don't know. Some kinda message or something, I don't know. We'll be staying for a week or so before heading back home," he explained easily as he ate.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in interest. "Then we might be able to do a little training together," he suggested calmly. Sasuke internally smirked. He knew the rumors about Nexus and knew that if any of them were true then these people would be strong opponents. He needed strong opponents in order to get stronger or else he wouldn't be able to kill HIM. The Uchiha shook his head and focused again on the strangers in front of him. The fire haired boy he was speaking to seemed to be the leader of the group and looked vaguely familiar though he couldn't place where. The dark red haired girl seemed quiet and slightly disturbing with that gaze of hers. The girl with the long dark purple hair was staring at him as if he were a piece of meat. Not in the same fashion as his fan girls did, but as if he actually was food. 'Creepy.'

Naruto tilted his head to the side, imitating a curious fox to a tee. "Training? Well if it's okay with Mei-Ling," he said turning to the yellow clad ghost.

She regarded them carefully. "We will see. Until then, we better head back to the hotel before my sister goes stir crazy. The last thing this town needs is to see her bored." Mei-Ling shivered at that thought. Her sister when bored was just as bad if not worse as when Naruto got bored. It was not pretty. The ghost shook her head as she led her charges away from the stand after paying for their food. She also wanted to get away from the ninjas watching them before one of her students did something …unusual by Konoha's standards. While she was allowed to make public Naruto's existence, she and her team were not yet allowed to display their true natures just yet. Revealing that piece of information too early may cost Nexus far more then anyone was willing to admit. First they needed the alliance of the Leaf solidified before they could reveal themselves. That way, they could show the world that while they were powerful and different they were not monsters. That was also why they had sent her team here, because of Naruto's relationship with the Hokage. If the leader met up with someone he knew, someone he could trust and get that person's opinion, it would go a long way in getting the alliance passed. Naruto's friendly personality, Anita's calm nature, and Shiva's elegance all added to the chances. If the rumors about the majority of Nexus' population not being human were confirmed, it could be disaster.

Sarutobi listened carefully to Kakashi's description of the Nexus team's chakra colors and behaviors. The red chakra in Naruto was almost to be expected, but the chakra in the other three surprised the Hokage. The purple chakra of the instructor was identical to that of the woman who had gone after Gato years ago. The woman had been inhuman and ruthless but not cruel. She had been professional in her job, no different then any other ninja. As for the fire, that was an accident she had never intended but had used it to her advantage in taking out the mob boss. The woman had declared herself to be an undead creature and judging from the chakra the Nexus Jonin instructor had she was undead as well which made assassination out of the question if they chose to eliminate the team. How do you kill something that's already dead? The Hokage shook his head and decided to cross that bridge if they got it. The girl with the black chakra was disturbing and was no doubt inhuman as well. What she truly was would only be speculation at this point. The final member really intrigued the old man. Other then Naruto who was or had been a demon host, he had never seen or heard of anyone having more then one color chakra in their system. However, the quiet red head had rainbow chakra that didn't seem to behave in any distinct manner other then chaotically. There was no telling what that girl was or would be capable of as a ninja, or any of them for that manner. The old man sighed as the copy ninja finished explaining what he saw. "This is troubling. I guess then the rumors are true about Nexus," he said simply.

"So what do we do now?" the one eyed Jonin asked calmly.

The third Hokage sighed as he smoked his pipe for a moment before answering. "Nothing. Despite not being human they have done nothing to warrant hostility. Also Anko and Naruto both claim that those in Nexus are good people who just wish to expand like any other village. Keep this information to yourself and don't do anything to provoke them. Also, inform the Hyuugas of the same. Until we know more for certain we will treat Atum-Coma and its treaty like we would any other village." Kakashi nodded and went to inform the Hyuugas of the Hokage's wishes. When the old man was alone, he sighed wishing the Fourth had not given his life like he had.

Hsien-Ko sat in silence as she was recounted the day and the night by her sister. After their meeting with the other team seven the Nexus team had done some light training by doing chakra control exercises. They had been practicing water walking which was difficult for all of them. Because darkstalker chakra was more potent then normal human chakra it was much harder to control. Even worse was that different darkstalker types with different chakra types tended to need different types of control. Earth types required force to control properly, wind guidance, demonic coercion, etc. For the three Genin this exercise allowed her to get a better idea of how their chakra acted and how to help them control it. For Shiva, the exercise was more annoying then anything else because she had to resist the instinct to float above or on the water rather then walk on the water. For Naruto it was extremely difficult due to his high power levels and the fact that the exercise dealt with the element opposite to his own. For Anita it was the same as if she were a normal human. Due to her kaleidoscopic chakra, which had all the strengths and weaknesses of all types of chakra, it was easy enough though it did become more difficult the longer she did it as her chakra started to act weird when used too long or to a great enough extent. It was tricky but not impossible. It just took time, trial, and error.

"So what do you think about training with the human team?" Mei-Ling asked her sister quietly as the Genin all slept. Anita slept like a normal person, Naruto was curled up like an animal with his blankets swirled around him almost like a nest, and Shiva was wrapped up completely in a sleeping bag where no light could touch her. While light wasn't harmful to her she was still sensitive to it and thus any little bit from an unknown source could easily wake her up. Mei-Ling had her concerns about training with the human team but wanted her sister's opinion first as they were her students just as much as Mei-Ling's.

The blue skinned undead considered for a moment. "I don't think that would be a good idea. While normally I'd say training with different people is usually a good thing, we can't run the risk of one of the kids showing more then they should, you know?" Hsien-Ko asked to which her sister nodded in understanding. "I have faith in Anita and we can explain away her spells as jutsu or some family bloodline, which isn't that far from the truth. However you know how Naruto and Shiva are when they get some good action. Against those rogue ninjas back there I could feel Shiva transform carelessly and Naruto start to though he did hold it back. In any case we can't take the risk right now, not until the alliance is agreed upon and negotiations have started." Mei-Ling nodded as both she and her sister went to sleep, setting an alarm clock for 7:30 p.m., when they usually got up back at home.

**DARK TOME****: Locations**

**Nexus Rehabilitation Asylum**: This is one of the most feared locations in Atum-Coma. Despite being a hospital, it is not exactly a pleasant place. Funded by taxes from Atum-Coma and located in Ice Blight, this place is a necessary evil. Here darkstalkers and humans who have absolutely zero control over their powers or have become far too deranged even by Nexus standards are taken to and rehabilitated. Many different medical treatments are used and tested in order to aid the patients. It is divided into sections with some being more … pleasant then others. This place also contains some of the most dangerous and insane beings to be found in Nexus. Some are simply too dangerous to leave free and thus this place has some of the most extreme security to be found in Nexus.

Some of the inmates include humans who have experimented a little too much with the power of the Light or the Dark, darkstalkers who have completely given in to their feral instincts becoming little more then animals, and people who have simply cracked under Atum-Coma's craziness. Some are experimental type darkstalkers and such with detrimental problems are brought in to see if their conditions can be helped. A few of the inmates include creatures that are beyond help and thus are contained as much as possible. While it is true that they could be sent back to the Lost Zone, no one wants to run the risk of them finding a way back and running wild or even having them free at all.

The director and head doctor of this institute is a tall human (?) woman with dark almost black hair and piercing emerald eyes known simply as Alice. With strange abilities, perception, and armed with "toys" that could easily kill a darkstalker, she is not someone people dare to mess with. Specializing in dealing with the most disturbed and insane that can exist, no one is sure where she came from or how she seems to know exactly what it takes to get through to a patient. Usually calm and tends to speak in a confusing manner, Alice is known for being both one of the most eccentric and one of the most brilliant people in Nexus. She takes no crap from anyone and is dedicated to her patients and takes great effort in their care. Many claim she's even madder then some of the inmates and disturbingly she agrees with them. With all the energies that flow in Atum-Coma combined with the madness already in the building, weird things tend to happen in the asylum causing chaos that only Alice seems able to create order out of.

**Nexus Library:** A massive and regal building containing millions of books ranging from common books to rare and extremely valuable tomes that are truly one of a kind. Open to the public, this place is in constantly in motion with people moving in an out especially since it's located in Clockworks. Designed almost like a massive labyrinth with books in all directions divided into sections, this place is one of the most highly revered places in Atum-Coma and is one of the social hubs for the city. This place is frequented most by sparks, magic users, and anyone, usually darkstalkers, who don't need a lot of sleep. Another quirk of the place is that with all the energies that naturally run through Atum-Coma along with all the people who come and go into the library, some of the books have started to manifest. It is not unusual to see well known literature characters walking around the halls of the library like ghosts, usually in the section that their story is shelved.

The books tend to come from donations as well as expeditions made outside of Nexus into the world and into the Lost Zone. The majority of the books open to the public are copies with the originals being safely stored beneath the building as it contains an advanced security system. However there are some books, usually one of a kind or books that contain some dangerous power or information; that are not open to the public and require a certain level of clearance to obtain. There are also a few select books that no one under any circumstances is allowed to have.

The woman in charge of this central place is a slightly clumsy and friendly darkstalker by the name of Yomiko Readman. Taking the appearance of a human woman with long black hair and glasses, she tends to be unassuming and mousy. However, this tends to fool people as she is a powerful and rare literature demon. With the ability to manipulate paper to do literally anything she wants, she can be a fierce opponent in a fight. Her special abilities also include psychic reading of books, which allow her to know not only the book inside and out and but also its history, where it's been and who had owned it. Yomiko is also able to instantly memorize anything she reads though when she is reading it is nearly impossible to get her attention. The girl is the most extreme bibliophile in existence and will do whatever it takes to get a book once she sets her sights on it. She has been known to be standing in the middle of a war zone reading and completely ignoring everything until her book is taken away. Oddly enough, she is good friends with Alice as the two can be seen talking regularly at coffee shops near both the library and the asylum.

AN: I'm going to be taking a break from this story to try out a couple of ideas of mine, which I've posted on my bio. Do not worry, I will be continuing this story at a later time. Thank you to all my reviewers and keep reading.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 17: Gatherings

Sarutobi sat in the second council that week. It had been three days since the first meeting where he had proposed the treaty with Nexus. Now after giving the various heads time to think about it, he had called them back together. With the Chunin exams starting soon, they needed a reply to send. The Hokage waited for a moment before speaking. "I assume you all have thought hard about Atum-Coma's proposal. So what do you think?" he asked calmly.

The Aburame clan head was the first to speak. "With Orochimaru still out there along with Itachi and us still weakened from the Kyuubi attack, any allies we could gain would be welcomed. Once more they offered, meaning they want the alliance," Shibi said logically.

Hiashi spoke up then. "And how do we know this isn't a trick? You all know as I the rumors surrounding Nexus and its people. Despite the reports and the information gained, keep in mind they came from two very questionable sources. Can we really trust the former follower of a traitor and a demon?" the stern and emotionless Hyuuga intoned, referring to the incident with Hidden Cloud years ago where he had lost his oldest daughter. Several clan heads started whispering, causing the Hokage to frown.

"Anko is a loyal ninja of the Leaf and Naruto has less reason to like this village then anyone and yet he came back of his own free will to tell us about Nexus, knowing what this place held for him. Atum-Coma is a completely new village and thus has no reason to go against us. Do any of you want to risk making more enemies by turning the alliance down?" the old man asked ominously. That had shut many of them up including Hiashi whose frown deepened. "In reality, what choice do we have?" he asked and they all knew the answer to that one.

Team 7 of Atum-Coma stood in front of the Hokage once more later that same day. Since arriving in Konoha they had been training, mostly in chakra control techniques as it was difficult to find ones that worked for each student. For Naruto, they had decided on a wind candle technique. With that, you went to a windy place, lit a candle, placed your hands around and below the flame so that you were close to it without shielding it from the wind, and you used your chakra to keep the flame steady and lit. Too little chakra and the flame would go out, too much and it might explode or burn your hands, and if you moved your chakra the wrong way you might put the flame out yourself. For Shiva, she had something similar, except it was a leaf in a pool of water since her chakra was shadow based rather then fire and this was the closest they could do without raising suspicion. As for Anita, she had a more advanced control technique involving her beads and making them move around her body in intricate and precise patterns. While Mei-Ling oversaw their training at night, like they did normally, Hsien-Ko spent her time wandering Konoha to get a better grasp of the layout in her human form. She didn't do this often lest someone discover that she wasn't human or worse, that she was the one involved in starting that massive fire years ago. In any case, they were all now standing in Hokage's office waiting for his reason for calling them.

"I've called you here to give you the Leaf's reply to Atum-Coma's treaty offer. We've decided to accept the invitation. However, since the Chunin exams will be starting soon, I have to ask if your team will be participating?" he asked cautiously.

Mei-Ling glanced at her students. All three looked at her curiously, awaiting her answer. She, nor her sister, had ever mentioned the Chunin exams to their students but she supposed she couldn't put it off any longer. "Yes, team 7 of Nexus will be participating along with two other teams. I should also tell you that by accepting the alliance, a majority of Atum-Coma's monarchs will be coming along with a few officials. They wish to get this treaty underway as soon as possible as well as make a definite impression on the nobles of the elemental countries," she explained calmly. She then smirked which was exceedingly rare for her, causing her students to shudder slightly. "And trust me you'll know them when you see them." All of them thought the same thing to that. 'Understatement of the year.'

The Hokage smiled to himself. "Well then, since the Chunin exams will be starting soon, I don't think it would make sense for your team to go back and forth. If it's all right with you, I'd be willing to send one of our messengers back to Nexus with the reply and that you'll be staying here for the exams," the old man offered kindly.

Mei-Ling looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I should probably write up a note or something to make sure there is no confusion. Trust me; Atum-Coma does not tolerate trespassers very well. Many spies have tried to gain entrance under the guise of carrying a treaty. Those in Atum-Coma don't appreciate it," She said simply, causing them both to chuckle. "Thank you for your help and for accepting the invitation. I would recommend you send Iruka or someone has very few prejudices. People like that tend to get killed very quickly in Atum-Coma," she explained calmly. Sarutobi nodded, understanding the multiple meaning behind the explanation though Mei-Ling didn't know that. 'I hope Hsien-Ko will be willing to wait a little longer then planned … and that she doesn't do something I'm going to regret,' the yellow clad ghost thought worriedly.

Hsien-Ko walked down the market her human form looking at the sights. She couldn't wait to get out of this constricting form and back into her normal kuang-shi form. Besides, she felt naked without her massive sleeves and claws. As she walked she noticed that she was getting a lot of glances and not because of the clothes she wore, mostly. The disguised undead was dressed in simple pants and tee shirt with the Atum-Coma symbol on it. She also wore a large jacket with overly large sleeves. True it wasn't anything close to what she was used to, but it was the best she could get. The only thing she kept from her normal outfit was her hat thought it was colored a bright blue rather then purple. As she walked she noticed a weapon shop. 'Huh, wonder what kind of weapons they have here,' she absently wondered as she entered.

It was a well kept shop with all types of weapons. Knives, swords, kunai, staffs, all sorts of weapons were here and while they were finely crafted, they didn't interest the undead huntress much at all. 'Nice stuff, but nothing too special,' she thought as she rummaged. Her own weapons were as high a grade as this and more. Hsien-Ko's personal stashes of weapons were all enchanted level to living level, not one normal or sentient one in the bunch. No normal ones because she always wanted to have an edge and they were easy to get relatively speaking. She also didn't bother with sentient weapons because they could be big trouble if you didn't handle them right or weren't specialized in them. Seeing all these weapons made her absently think of Dhylec; Donovan's demon sword elemental. It was arguably the most powerful sentient weapon in existence and quite honestly it scared the shit the out of Hsien-Ko. 'I may be a weapon specialist but no way would I go near that thing,' she shivered at the memories of when she had seen it in use. The power in that blade was frightening. She had seen Donovan take down a whole army of Hutzil in minutes with that thing and it was then she realized just how power that blade was and Donovan as well for being able to control it. Hsien-Ko shook herself out of her thoughts as a young girl with black hair tied up in two buns came up to her.

"Hi, I'm Tenten. My parents aren't here right now. Can I help you?" she asked the woman in her shop. Tenten had noticed her immediately and knew to be weary. The Genin had never seen this woman before in her shop or Konoha and it was not just because of her clothes or hair style. This woman moved with a grace and precision that she had seen in her own sensei Maito Gai. Also the way she looked through the weapons told the young ninja that this woman knew exactly what she was looking at, meaning she was a weapons mistress just like her. Other then those in her family, there were no other weapons specialists, meaning this woman was from some place else. The woman smiled, recognizing the younger girl as fellow weapon's mistress.

Back in Atum-Coma, team 8 was resting after a particularly interesting mission involving border patrol. Anko had taken her team to a local stand in celebration for a job well done as well as to tell them about the upcoming Chunin exams. Mia and Ria were glad to go and were now happily swallowing mimmoths alive and whole. The cat girls were happy to going to be Chunin exams and seeing what kind of shiny things they could steal. Axel was tuning his guitar which was shaped literally like an axe and doubled as one. He was absently munching on nachos as he did, trying to come up with songs and attacks for the upcoming exam, though it was hard to tell which was which with him. Amethyst was sitting at a small table playing poker with her bird Kir and Anko. Ironically it was the bird who was doing the best and Anko who was doing the worst. Amy was able to hold her own while absently drinking a pint of rum and humming "What do you with a drunken sailor".

Anko looked over at her student who was concentrating on her cards and whether or not her bird companion was bluffing. The half naga Jonin knew the shit would hit the fan when they got to Konoha due to Amethyst's or rather Hinata's past and current situation. Anko was no fool and had pegged Amy as the missing Hyuuga heir the minute she had seen her eyes. Her first thought had been to return her to Konoha but that idea was quickly crushed due to the girl being in the custody of Ruby Heart and the fact that she was the first Hyuuga she had ever seen to actually smile. So she had left the girl in the pirate's care, both for Hinata's sake and just to spite that asshole Hiashi. In Konoha though, it wouldn't take long for people to put two and two together. 'When Hiashi finds out his heir is still alive he's going to want her back. I seriously doubt Ruby will be willing to give up her daughter to anyone, much less a tight assed prick like Hiashi,' she thought sourly. 'Well, now's a good a time as any,' she thought as she turned her attention to Kir and Amy who were arguing over the cards.

"Ye be cheating again, aren't ya?" Amethyst accused her bird companion when she saw six aces on the table when they were only playing with one deck. Kir was an experiment the pirate had picked up in Clockworks by accident. Apparently he had been created as new type of sentient weapon but was considered a failure due to the bird being deceitful and just plain annoying at times. "I say ya played ya last hand," Amy declared.

Kir just chuckled. "I don't think so," he said as he brought up a bunch of cards from under the pint of rum he had. All of them were either four of a kind aces, royal flushes, or royal straights. "I got seven more!" The bird laughed as Amy face palmed, wondering how in the world she ended up with this bird brain.

Anko smirked at the antics before turning serious again. "Amy, there's something we need to talk about," she said stoically. Both the pirate and the bird looked up at the older woman, knowing that tone and thus ending the impending argument about honor and card games. "We need to talk about your heritage," she said calmly.

Amy raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What has me mum got to do with anything?" she asked cautiously.

Anko shook her head, "I was referring to your father." The dark-haired girl's eyes widened with realization. "Yeah, that's what I need to talk to you about. Your father is in Konoha and doesn't know you're alive. As soon as the Chunin exams start, he's gonna learn about you and probably try to gain custody of you from your mother and Atum-Coma. What do you plan to do about this?" she asked in all seriousness.

Amethyst was silent for a moment and surprisingly so was Kir who was interested. "I … would like to get to know him and my biological family. But should he try to command me, he'll learn no ta cross me or me mum," she said with a wicked grin. "So what's me dad like anyway?" she asked curiously. Anko just chuckled darkly as she began to describe Hiashi and the Hyuuga clan.

In another part of Nexus, Donavon sat in contemplation. The Chunin exams and the upcoming negotiations weighed heavily on his mind. While the monarchs all agreed, more or less, to the alliance, knowing that they needed to solidify themselves in this world. However, there were a few demon aristocrats who didn't agree with this course of action and had lodged a number of complaints, none of them quiet or subtle. They believed darkstalkers should conquer and rule like they attempted to do in the Demon Realm back in the Lost Zone. Problem with that argument was that even in the Lost Zone they did not have anywhere near full control, and in this world with the addition of ninjas, it would be even less likely. Still they persisted, though it was difficult for them with the Maximofs standing in their way. Demitri was not someone anyone dared to fool around with, with the possible exception of his wife Morrigan. 'That is just one problem to deal with,' the Youkai Kage thought sadly.

There were also reports of darkstalkers leaving the city and heading to over villages. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that some of the darkstalkers leaving weren't exactly friendly. One of which was Bishamon, the red demon samurai. That specific darkstalker had been a menace for some time now and until recently, stayed in Makai and areas surrounding the city. Now there were reports of him heading into Sound country along with a few followers who were as bloodthirsty as he was. 'There are interesting times ahead,' he thought as he looked over the various terms they were planning to propose for the alliance.

**DARK TOME:**** Weapon & Item Classes**

**Normal: **This is the most common type of weapon or item. They are exactly what they appear to be with no special abilities or anything. While quality and material vary, these types of weapons can be used by anyone given enough training. These weapons/items can also be upgraded to higher classes given the right circumstances.

**Enchanted:** This weapon/item class is also common and subtle. Weapons/items of the enchanted class aren't much different in appearance from those in the Normal class. The main difference is that these weapons/items have a passive ability built into them that activates when they are handled and or used. Examples would be a sword that enhances the blocking ability of the user or a pair of glasses that allows the user to see through smoke, fog, and similar impediments. These abilities are always on, unable to be turned off, and can be built into them or can be added to them after creation through magic, exposure to high amounts of energies, or other mystic materials. An example of this would be Hsien-Ko's claws which respond to her chakra and thoughts, allowing her perfect control and precision use of them. Like the Normal class, they can be upgraded to higher classes. It is also possible to downgrade Enchanted to Normal if the energies imbued into the weapon/item is drained or canceled out.

**Magic:** This weapon/item class is rarer and is less subtle then the two lower classes. Usually made out of more unusual materials, weapons/items in this class have abilities that can be activated and actively used and controlled. More often then not, these weapons require training and practice to use properly. It is also important to note that these weapons may have limited sentience. While not fully aware or able to act on their own, they are able to react to the world around them much the same way a plant (not counting Netherleafs or similar plants) or animal might. An example of this would be Kisame Hoshigaki's Samehada sword. While not as intelligent or aware as a human, it can decide who wields it just like a trained dog chooses who to obey. While those in this class can be upgraded to the sentient level or downgraded to the enchanted level; it is difficult to do so depending on the weapon/item and how aware or powerful it is.

**Sentient**: This is the highest and by far the most dangerous class of weapons/items. This class of weapons/items is fully aware, intelligent and is able to think and act on their own. They usually contain vast power, but are extremely difficult to control as they have a will of their own that can overpower the user if not handled correctly. Since they're alive, they can grow and evolve given time and experience. It is currently impossible to create a sentient class weapon/item from scratch and must be upgraded to from a lower class through extreme exposure to various energies and to the extreme will of their user. This causes major variations in the type of "personality" these weapons/items have. Two sentient class swords of similar type and power may have completely different personalities if one was used constantly to protect people while the other was used for blood and mayhem. However all sentient class weapons/items share a single common trait, they will do whatever it takes to full fill the function they were made for. Because of this trait, they can be just as dangerous to the user as to whoever they are used against.

For example, the darkstalker Oboro Bishamon is actually a normal human samurai who donned a sentient class suit of samurai armor and sword named Hannya and Kien, respectively. Because the power and blood lust of the armor and sword, they overpowered the will of samurai Oboro and thus took control. From time to time Oboro can regain control but it is extremely difficult and thus doesn't happen often. On the flip side, it is possible for a user's will to subdue the weapon's/item's such as in the case of Donovan and his sword elemental Dhylec, also known as Kill-Shred. Due to his strong will and advanced training as a holy monk, Donovan is able to subdue and control Dhylec despite the sword being bloodthirsty and immensely powerful. However, there is also a rarer third type of relationship that can occur between a sentient weapon/item and a user. It is one where neither are totally in control and instead form a more cooperative or symbiotic partnership. In this case, the two work together, and share control rather then competing, thus making it seem like the two share the same mind or are linked in some way. Whether this is true or not has yet to be proven. The best example of this type of partnership is Amethyst Heart and her pirate sword Sharkey. It has been noted that each affects the other's personality somewhat. Amethyst has become a calm collected hunter and can be very frenzied in battle while Sharkey has become more laid back and is gaining a bit better vocabulary beyond "num-nums", which incidentally means food or more accurately snacks.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 18: Visitors

Team seven of Nexus waited on top of the Hokage Monument looking up at the sky. It was obvious the Chunin exams would be starting soon, as large numbers of ninjas from other countries were arriving. Some countries had multiple teams competing while others had just one. Some teams you could tell it was their first time, others were definitely veterans. Usually, they went to their hotels and stayed there so as not to give anything away before the exam. The Nexus team however, stayed out in the open, drawing a lot of whispering and speculation. It would make things all the sweeter when the final part of the exams started. Hsien-Ko turned to her sister who was standing next to her as the group watched the overcast sky. "So when do you think they'll get here?" she asked casually as she pulled out a pocket watch to check the time.

Mei-Ling shrugged. "They shall get here at three 'o'clock as she said she would. Miss Heart may be many things, but when it comes to travel she is very much like her mother," the sorceress answered honestly. Hsien-Ko nodded and they returned to what seemed to be cloud watching.

"So, this is where you are," a voice said from behind them. They all turned to see team seven of the Leaf walking up behind them. The one who had spoken was Sasuke who was leading his team towards them. Behind him were Sakura, Sai, and their sensei, Kakashi. "What are you doing up here?" he asked the question his team was wondering. Ever since the Nexus team had arrived, people had been curious but had found little information about them. Now they were acting like that lazy bum Shikamaru, watching the clouds.

"Waiting to meet up with the other teams from Nexus," Naruto said simply with a fox grin. "They'll be here around three 'o' clock."

The Leaf team, were all confused though only Sakura showed it. "Then shouldn't you be waiting near one of the gates?" she asked pointing to where many of the ninjas from other countries were coming in.

They all just smiled at the Leaf team as Hsien-Ko looked at her watch again. Her smile became a wicked grin. "Normally, you'd be right, but there's a popular saying in Nexus," she said calmly, waiting for it. Suddenly there were claps of thunder and lightning as a large object emerged from the blanket of clouds. "Never be normal!"

All of them looked up to see a large sky ship erupt from the clouds. It had multiple main sails, all black bearing the insignia of Nexus in bright purple, with smaller sails on the sides. The ship itself was a midnight black, with intricate, glowing lines of energy in shifting colors, mostly reds, oranges, and yellows. Its figurehead was a woman with one bat wing and one bird wing coming out of her back, both outstretched. While nowhere near the size of the Storm Breaker, it was easy to see that this ship was built for speed rather then power. At the top of the main mast a black flag with the symbol of a purple heart cradled by a white shark waved proudly in the air. It was truly a sight to behold. The Nexus team all smiled at seeing something familiar while the Leaf team all openly gaped, even Kakashi. All across the village people were stopping and staring open mouth at the sight of a flying black ship bearing the Nexus symbol. Even the ninjas and nobles were all staring in fascination as the ship sailed through the sky towards the monument. They watched as it came about, aligning its side with that of Hokage Mountain. From the wheel, they could see a young girl in a pirate outfit waving at them as she maneuvered the ship to dock with the mountain. Once it was lined up to where they were standing, four cables shot out and anchored themselves to the ground in a square shape followed by a number of sliding planks moving down the two bottom cables. After that the two upper cables created connections to the lower ones, creating a rope bridge from the ship to the land. "AHOY MATES!" the girl at the helm cried.

Kakashi and Leaf team 7 stared in utter shock. Even his time in the ANBU, he had never seen something like this. However, before they could dwell on it further, a black and red blur sped down the bridge and bum rushed Naruto. The blur and the blonde rolled backwards until Naruto was laying flat on his back with a girl on top of him. She was dressed in typical black ninja garb with forearm and shin guards. She had a large mane of red hair with what looked like a cat on her head. The cat was as black as her and had an odd swirl of blue fur on its head. Overall, she reminded Kakashi of a female, feline version of Kiba. Naruto just laughed while the girl grinned.

"I missed you too, but did you have to tackle me?" Naruto asked as the girl gave him a Cheshire grin.

"Yep," she said simply. Naruto then noticed the cat on the girl's head and raised an eyebrow in question. The girl simply winked, grinning deviously. Naruto caught on and smiled back, this was going to be fun.

"Don't mind Mia, she was just excited to see her brother is all," a voice said from the rope bridge. They all looked to see Anko walking down followed by the pirate girl, a boy in a leather jacket and pant with an instrument on his back, a woman in a white kimono with a red sash and wooden sword by her side, a boy dressed in black with a hood so you couldn't see his face, a girl in green with long hair the same color as Sakura's, and a boy in weird metal armor. "Nice to see ya Kakashi, though I wasn't expecting your team to meet us here," she said with a grin as the two Jonin shook hands. Anko quickly introduced the two other teams from Nexus. "Well it was nice seeing ya, Amethyst you're in charge till I get back. Gotta go see the Hokage about the exams," she explained as she disappeared in a gust of wind.

The pirate girl spoke up, apparently at the strange crew that was still on the ship. "All right mates, ye watch the ship until I return." There was something about this girl that nagged at Kakashi's memory, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The pirate had black boots that made little sound, dark-brown, baggy pants, a dark purple vest with a blue trim, a heavy, dark-brown cape with a collar draped over her shoulders, a pair of fingerless, leather gloves, and to top it off a tri-cornered leather hat pulled down so that it hid her eyes from sight with the aid of her collar. What little skin they could see was a nice tan along with her dark blue hair behind her in a long braid tied around a metal ring that hung at the end. She then turned to her teammates and the other Nexus teams. "Well now then mates, let see what this port has to offer, savvy?" she asked grinning. Those who knew her well knew that she was really interested in seeing how many people she could rip off before, during, and after the Chunin exams. This caused some of them to chuckle, as they all started to head out with Naruto playing tour guide once more.

The Konoha team just stared at them as they left, unsure of what to make of this strange looking group. They were all dressed so differently it was hard to believe they all came from the same place. As they left, Kakashi took a chance and lifted his headband to take a peak at their chakra. What he saw scared the living daylights out of him. NONE of those from Nexus had normal chakra. Only one of them had completely light blue chakra like that of normal humans, the boy in the weird armor, but it didn't act like normal chakra. Most people's chakra flowed through them evenly, with concentrations happening in whatever body part they used it in the most. For example, a Byakugan user would have concentrations of chakra in his or her eyes, same with a Sharingan user, a Nara would have it in his or her feet as that's what connected them to their shadow jutsus, and an Inuzuka would have minor concentrations in his or her nose and ears due to their enhanced senses. This kid, on the other hand, had an almost ungodly high concentration of chakra in his brain, so much so that it was almost like a flare to the Sharingan user. Everyone else in the Nexus group, none of them had completely normal light blue chakra. Kakashi saw black, red, purple, light-blue, dark-blue, blue-green, light-green, dark-green, and multi-colored chakra in this group. True a couple of them had mostly light blue chakra, with something mixed in that he couldn't identify. It wasn't chakra per se, but some other type of energy. 'Looks like this year is going to be interesting,' he thought as he led his team away.

Walking along, those from Nexus didn't say a word as they took in the sights on their way to the exam. Each was lost in his or her own thoughts. Leon, being a spark, was admiring the local architecture. He was also absently taking a few notes for future renovation for his parents to look over, should the alliance be solidified. Many of his notes were on a sky port for ships, a train station, and a few modifications to the area to accommodate a few types of darkstalkers, specifically bestial, insect, and plant types as they were the ones most interested in settling in the Leaf. 'Though it will depend a good deal on how accepting Konoha is of Darkstalkers,' he thought as he remembered Naruto's description of how they treated him, a "supposed" demon, well at the time anyway. 'Still, it would be beneficial to both countries if the alliance went through,' the young spark thought. A lot of darkstalkers wanted this alliance for one simple reason, more space. While Atum-Coma and Nexus were both great and prosperous, the country and the city were a little crowded, which had caused a few problems here and there since many darkstalkers liked to have their space. With this alliance, a number of residents would move to Konoha, freeing up space in Nexus, enhancing Fire, and generally helping everyone. 'I really hope it works out,' the spark thought silently.

Verity, despite being stuck in her human form, loved her stay in the aptly named Leaf village so far. The forests around the village simply called out to the Netherleaf, making her giddy, which was odd since Netherleafs were usually emotionless. 'Such wonderful soil!' she thought as she walked around in what appeared to be her bare feet. The sentient plant could taste the nutrients in the soil, even on a worn road like this, and they were wonderful. It was hard to restrain her impulse to simply plant herself in the ground and start up a patch of her own. There were a number of Netherleafs, mostly temperate forest types, who would love to move here, her self included. There were a few types of Netherleafs who weren't doing as well as they should've been in Nexus. The fact of the matter was that with the current restraint against darkstalkers going out into the world, the Netherleafs had no new territory to grow. It was a basic rule of nature, only so many plants/animals could exist in a single area without there being problems. True none of the problems so far had been major, but they were still annoying. They mostly involved the slim, little areas where territories crossed each other, usually at where districts met, such as between Clockworks and Makai, or between Ice Blight and Sky Hold. Air type darkstalkers obviously loved high places, but not all of them cared for cold weather. Likewise, ice type darkstalkers loved the snow and didn't care much for bare rocky mountain areas. It was the same thing with the Netherleafs. Different Netherleafs needed different areas to thrive in and it was becoming a little crowded and Fire country would be a perfect place for some of them to move to. 'I hope our team gets stationed here,' she thought dreamily.

Amethyst Heart walked down the street, quietly taking in the sights as her mind was elsewhere. Her thoughts focused around seeing her father again after all this time. She had a few memories of him and even less of her biological mother. How would they react to seeing their daughter again? What would they say to her being raised as a pirate? Would they be proud of her or condemn her? 'Would they even allow me ta leave them again?' she thought nervously as she followed the rest of the group. While the Leaf village was nice enough, it could never be home and she knew that. This place was too quiet, too organized, too one note as it were, for her to be comfortable here. No, she needed freedom and wildness, the freedom that came with sailing the skies and the wildness of Atum-Coma. Plus she couldn't simply turn her back on her mother, Ruby. The pirate had saved her life years ago, and while that life debt thing had become little more then a running gag, Amethyst was still very grateful. Ruby had basically taken her in and made her a sky pirate to be known and feared, despite her age. It was Ruby who had "introduced" her to Sharkey, her sword and companion. Amy chuckled at the memory of meeting the shark sword. 'I was so scared of him, then I find out he's little more than a puppy,' she thought amused. In any case, she would have to deal with her heritage sooner or later when she met her father. 'Later, definitely later, after I've had some rum.' Yes, that would work.

Shiva walked in silence with the others, despite her blood simply singing with all the ninja about due to the exams. Despite being a hybrid, she, like many types of demons who fed on humans and similar creatures, had certain "tastes" for blood and energy. Her mother, a powerful succubus for example, craved the energy from those with great dreams and or ambitions. 'Probably why she became attracted to my father,' she absently thought as she walked down the street. For her father, a strong vampire, it was passion that he craved in blood. Those traits attracted each of them in the same fashion as mimmoth ramen did to Naruto. For Shiva, being the hybrid offspring of both a succubus and a vampire, she too had "tastes", for both energy and blood. Her blood preference was for that of one who wished to fight, one who consciously sought out a battle of some kind. Many of the headstrong ninjas around her were doing just that, looking for a fight. It was getting harder and harder for her not to simply pounce on one of them, drag them to the nearest secluded area, and drain them dry. On the flip side, her preference for energy was a little different. She preferred the energy from strong willed beings, beings who truly obeyed no one but themselves. People like that were in shorter supply and it was odd at times, mostly because Shiva was able to sense strong wills in the most unlikely of people. 'Who would've thought that ramen waitress, what her name, Ayame? Yes, that's it. Who would've thought Ayame had such a strong will in her?' she absently thought. While she had been tempted, she had decided to leave the girl alone, simply because she had been kind to Naruto where most others had been cruel. Still, that didn't mean she wouldn't get another chance later. There were so many to choose from. 'Delicious.'

The Nexus group walked towards the academy, minus the instructors of course, for the first part of the Chunin exam. They were gaining many looks and stares, especially Naruto who was leading the group. The citizens of the Leaf had never seen people dressed as strangely as this group, and yet they didn't seem to care that they were attracting so much attention. They entered the building going up the stairs to the room where the first test was supposed to be, yet they noticed something. The stairs didn't seem to be right. All of the Nexus teams noticed it, but said nothing. They walked down the hall and came to a group of ninjas trying to enter a room but were being blocked by two other Genin. Team 7 and team Gai were both there as well. Sasuke had tried to kick one of the Genin only to have the smaller version of Gai step in, Rock Lee. "We're doing you a favor keeping you out. None of you look like you can handle us, let alone a test that makes some people forever give up being a shinobi – or just kills them."

Amethyst just chuckled, causing everyone to look at the strange group. "Aye, you might be doing us a favor, but don't try to trick a trickster, especially with an attempt as pathetic at that," she stated with a grin, taking command like her mother showed her. Neji Hyuuga stared at the new group, wondering who they were and where they came from. The strangely dressed girl who had spoke seemed to set off some warning bells in the young Hyuuga, though he had no clue way. The girl seemed to reach for something hidden underneath her heavy looking cloak. There was a flash of a movement and the sound of the cloak rustling and a chain rattling. In an instant, the sign labeling the door changed along with the two so called Genin guarding it. Amethyst was seen letting go of something, as if she had simply grasped and let go of the object without actually moving it. Neji's pale eyes narrowed, what did that girl just do? "Well now, lets shove off mates, we've got an exam to take," she grinned, walking past the stunned ninjas.

"Set sail! Set sail!" Kir, the strange black feathered bird cried as the group went forward, leaving confused and interested stares behind them.

**DARK TOME****: Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Experimental**

**Sub Types:**** Magic (Is a magic based entity), Science (Is a science based entity), Biological, mechanical (machine/metal)**

**Constructs:**Common in Atum-Coma, constructs are creatures that were created through manipulation by others. These creatures appear in many forms, many of them quite strange. Constructs generally originate as experiments of sparks, magic users, or researchers to further whatever research their doing. Many times they are created to simply see if it can be done and are then discarded. Others as used in jobs that best suit their abilities. To keep constructs from being abused, the Heterodynes have placed very strict laws in the creation, ownership, and treatment of constructs.

Constructs typically start out as normal creatures/people but are later modified by another into something unnatural for experimentation. Constructs may also be made from scratch, though this is much more difficult and takes far more time to accomplish. Many constructs are made to obey a certain master/creator through some type of recognition such as blood, smell, the sound of their voice, etc. This trait is common in most types of constructs, making it so they have no choice but to obey even when they don't want to. However, a construct will usually only want to disobey its creator if it was a normal being before hand. Normally a construct will do everything within their ability to protect and serve their creator/master. Should their creator/master die for any reason, they will either obey a family relation or seek out a new master that fits their function. Their intelligence, abilities, and complexity vary greatly from individual to individual.

**Clanks:** A common type of construct, especially in Clockworks. These are robots basically and like other constructs they will do whatever task is assigned to them. They are usually simply minded and shut down when their masters are gone. If a special system is used to control them and is destroyed, they will either run wild, continue doing its last assigned task until their stopped, or they will simply shut down. However, there have been a few cases of clanks being far more intelligent then expected. In the end though, they cannot disobey their programming like biological or living constructs can.

AN: Sorry this took so long. Life got in the way.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 19: Let the Games begin

The Nexus and Leaf Teams all entered the room where the first test was to be held. Immediately, dozens on or sets of eyes locked on the two groups. Neither group cared much as the clumped together, waiting for the first exam to start. Both groups started to chat calmly, seemingly ignoring the numerous glares they were receiving. However, most of the conversations in the Nexus group were interrupted when Shiva spoke up in a slightly pleased tone. "Huh, it seems that we're not the only ones here," she said simply. Most of the other ninjas wondered what she meant, but those from Nexus knew exactly what she was referring too. Also, they knew that particular tone of voice. It meant she had found either someone who matched her energy and/or blood tastes, or she found something/someone she deemed interesting. They all watched in interest as she scanned the room. Her demon eyes came to rest on another Genin on the side of the room who had short red hair, black circles around his eyes, and a large gourde on his back. The disguised hybrid licked her lips in anticipation. "Interesting," she mumbled to herself as she made her way over to the grim looking sand Genin.

Gaara stood silently, brooding to himself as usual. He honestly didn't care if he made Chunin or not. All he cared about was getting a chance to fight someone strong, to prove that he truly existed. However, something had been off with Shukaku ever since he arrived in Konoha. His demon had been restless for some reason and that bothered him. Shukaku was never restless, not like this. He was broken out of his thoughts when another Genin approached him. It was one of those Genin from Nexus, a young female with a strange look in her eyes. "What do you want?" he said evenly.

Shiva just chuckled, "You're an interesting little tanuki aren't you?" she said simply, causing Gaara's, Temari's, and Kankuro's, eyes to widen. They had never even heard of Nexus until a short time ago and already one of their Genin knew about Shukaku. The strange Genin just giggled before speaking again. "So what do you like to do for fun?" she asked simply.

Gaara just stared at her for a moment before responding. "I kill people," he said simply, expecting the usual response of the person staring at him in disbelief. This girl didn't. She just smiled wider as if that was a normal response. Who was she?

Shiva grinned inside; this tanuki seemed like good entertainment. "Sounds like fun. Do you have a preferred method or just anything goes?" she asked in sincere curiosity, which surprised Gaara though he didn't show it. This girl wasn't frightened of him at all, despite knowing he liked to kill people for fun and apparently knowing something about Shukaku. If anything, she seemed even more interested in him and he wasn't sure what to think of that. He had never dealt with anything like this before. Before either could say anything, a large man at the front of the class called for everyone's attention. "Looks like the test is starting. Let's meet up later and kill a few people here and there, have some fun. We'll paint the town red," she said grinning at him as he stared blankly at her. She then turned to go back to her team. "See ya around ringtail," the girl said with a wink, causing Gaara to stare confused and his siblings to gape in shock.

The puppet user turned to his sister in shock. "Is it just me or did she just ask Gaara out on a date?" he spoke in stunned voice. Temari just nodded dully, not believing what had just happened.

Shiva walked back to her teammates, both of which were staring at her. Anita had a blank expression though the hybrid could tell the little sorceress was amused at her actions. Naruto on the other hand had a big fox grin and was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her. She frowned playfully at him. "Not one word fur ball," she threatened. The kitsune just grinned wider at his comrade. The three of them sat down in their seats and began the test.

From the sides, Kabuto watched the Nexus teams with interest. While giving information with Leaf ninjas and dealing with the Sound ninjas, he had been curious about them. For one thing, there was no information about them at all; he didn't even have any cards on any Nexus ninja. For another, there was something off about all of them. As a medical ninja, he could tell from a glance that some of their movements were strange, almost as if they were restrained somehow. 'I'll have to report this to Lord Orochimaru as soon as possible. There's something not right about those Genin.'

Each team had they're own ways of cheating on this test. Shiva used her bats her spy on the others. Anita used a type of divination with her beads to do the same. Naruto merely listened in on Akamaru who was blabbing to Kiba. Leon, being a spark, didn't bother with cheating and had already answered all the questions and was now passing them along to Verity through a vine that had crept under the floor boards and up his leg to get a good view of his paper. Jack did the same thing with a small shadow extension. Team 8 of Nexus however, had another plan. Amethyst nodded to Kir who in turn nodded to the black cat on her teammate's shoulder. Said cat then meowed loudly at Akamaru. The dog turned around on Kiba's head to see the black cat making faces at him. The small dog growled at her. "Ah, is da wittle puppy angwy?" she meowed in a little baby voice, though only her sister, Naruto, Akamaru, and Kiba could understand her. Said puppy just growled louder. The cat just smiled widely, turning around on Mia's shoulder and started smacking her bottom with her paw. "Oh yeah, come get some mutt. Cats rule and dogs drool, cats rule and dogs drool," she chanted, causing Akamaru to really get ticked until finally he jumped off of Kiba and attempted to pounce on the frustrating feline. What resulted was pure chaos.

Akamaru chased the black and blue feline across the desks, disrupting everyone taking the test. The two animals started to bounce around, moving faster and faster and the sentries tried to catch them to keep things from getting out of hand. As this was happening, everyone failed to notice Kir sneaking off and planting a few exploding tags all around the room. Under chairs, desks, on walls, all over explosive tags were hid. The black cat landed on the sand kunoichi's head. Akamaru came barreling right at them and at the last second, the cat jumped off and landed on a rain ninja's head. "Nya nya, can't touch this," she meowed, hitting her rear again. The dog just growled, going after the cat while Temari was spitting out dog hair.

"Why you mangy mutt!" the blonde cried out as she pulled out her fan, royally ticked at having a close encounter with that dog's behind. Ibiki's eyes widened, realizing what she was going to do.

"Wait, hold it!" he cried out, but it was too late. Temari released a massive blast of cutting wind right at the offending animals. Normally, this would have been a devastating attack except for one thing, it was in a relatively small room full to the brim with ninjas. The attack not only struck a number of people in the room, it also caused a couple of the explosive tags planted by Kir to go off, and thus causing a couple of the sentries to go flying literally off their seats. One of the Chunin crashed right into Amethyst, who promptly grabbed the stunned Chunin and threw him into the group of seated Genin two rows behind her. This caused them to crash in heap, pissing off a number of people around them as Amethyst basically gave up on the test, stood on top of the desk, and then did a flying body slam into the pile of people. Thus started one hell of a bar fight, minus the bar.

Ibiki ducked as a stray jutsu, or was it a thrown body, came at him. 'How the hell did this happen?' he thought wildly as he watched the chaos. It was the first ninja mosh pit he had ever seen, with the Genin going at each other, the Chunin trying to regain control, jutsus flying in every direction, and test papers flying around, forgotten. The Genin from Nexus were really getting into it, especially that pirate girl who had just slugged another stone ninja with an impressive right hook. The girl with the black cat, who partially started this whole mess, was going at it with Kiba like two animals while their furry partners were still running around like crazy. 'This can not get any worse,' he thought. The investigator was proved wrong when another explosion happened right next to him, revealing Anko making her entrance. 'Then again …'

The half-naga was stunned at what she was seeing. Instead of the intimidated students who were stressed about a pointless test, she got a mass ninja brawl with her students in the direct middle of it. Anko didn't know whether to be pissed or impressed at the chaos that had been created. Deciding to sort it out later, she brought her fingers to her mouth and let out an ear-piercing, high pitched whistle that caused everyone to stop in place and look at her, which was actually kind of funny. Kiba and Mia (or was it Ria) were locked in a grapple with each of them biting the other. Axel was poised with his guitar to bash the sound ninja Zaku in the head from behind with Tenten behind him ready with several kunai. Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji were all frozen in place, looking ready to strike at each other in an odd triangle. Shikamaru, Shino, Jack, and Anita were all watching from behind a barrier generated by Anita's beads. Chouji, Jack, and Leon were all sitting behind a barrier of desks, watching everything from the sidelines with Leon taking notes. Verity, Hanabi, and Sai were in the middle of a dog pile of ninjas from all over, including Rain, Mist, Stone, and Cloud ninjas. Sakura and Ino had gotten into a catfight with the sand ninja Temari and sound ninja Kin. Shiva was with Gaara and looked like she was about to kiss him, much to his surprise, when everyone had stopped. At the top of a pile, coincidentally the same one Verity, Hanabi, and Sai were in, were Amethyst and Rock Lee ready to go at each other in a Taijutsu match. Everyone stood stock still, wondering what Anko would do. She merely glanced at all of them before speaking. "What the hell are you all doing?" she asked simply.

Everyone started to look at each until Amy basically answered for them. She shrugged and then sucker punched Lee before anyone could react, starting up the mass brawl again. Naruto yelling out, "Last one in is an academy student!" he yelled before bum rushing both Sasuke and Neji into the mass of brawling ninjas.

Anko just shook her head for a moment. 'Amethyst, you are truly your mother's daughter,' she thought before taking a deep breath. "KNOCK IT OFF!" she yelled as loud as possible, causing everyone to freeze again. "Everyone, back to your seats," she ordered and they did so, albeit reluctantly. Once they were all seated, Anko scanned them all again. Other then some minor scrapes, there wasn't anything too bad. "Now, where are the tests?" Everyone looked around and finally noticed that all the tests were gone. Not simply destroyed or ripped into pieces, they were just gone. Everyone was confused, even the sentry Chunins who had been watching, and participating, in the whole event. Anko sighed before speaking again. "Okay, who started this whole brawl in the first place?" she asked tiredly. Everyone simply pointed to the black cat, now sporting a red trust of fur on her head instead of blue, who sat on Mia's (or was it Ria's) head of now blue hair. The cat sat perfectly straight, tilted her head to the side, and meowed as if innocently saying "who me?" Anko sighed again, 'figures.' She then looked up at the group, seeking out a single Genin. "Amethyst Heart, get up here," she ordered. The pirate girl did as she was told, knowing that tone from her mother, her collar and hat still keeping her face fairly obscured. "Hand them over," she said simply, holding out her hand.

Amy sighed and produced a large stack of test papers with all the names conveniently erased. She turned to sit down until Anko grabbed her shoulder, pointing to the table indicating that she wanted the rest of it. The pirate growled, "Fine, but you owe me big for this." She started to reach under her cloak, dropping the items on the table as she listed them. "Let's see, I got twelve wallets, fifty-three kunai, sixty-two shuriken, fourteen scrolls, seven sets of keys, four med kits, two weird umbrellas, a deck of blank cards, five shirts, nine belts, thirteen bras," she held up a lacy black one and a lacy red one, causing Sakura and Tenten to blush respectively, "and several pairs of boxers," she said the last while holding up a pair of white boxers with little hearts on them causing one of the sentries to blush.

"How could you do something so dishonorable?" one of the foreign ninja asked disgusted.

All of the Nexus ninja answered at the same time. "Pirate." Anko then looked over all the Genin who were all wondering what would happen now. With all the names erased, there was no way to grade them not that it mattered, but it was impossible to see who had passed the information gathering portion of the test. Not wanting to really deal with any of this, she decided to simply pass them all and let the Forest of Death sort them out. "All right, since the test was screwed with, you all get a free pass. However, this just means that those who are not ready will fail even more so in the next test. There will be death involved and the number of teams will be cut by more then half," she said darkly, causing many of them to shiver in nervousness. "Any questions?" she asked sweetly. She got a tap on her arm by Amethyst. "What?"

Amy just grinned, holding up the red bra from before. "Can I at least keep this one? I've been looking all over for one of these, though this does seem a little small for me," she asked looking it over. A kunai went whizzing past her nose, ebbing itself into the wall behind her. She looked over to see a fuming Tenten who was blushing madly. "A simple nay would've been fine," she said grinning.

The Hokage sighed as he read the report of what happened in the first exam. 'Figures those from Naruto's new home would cause a miniature riot,' he thought as he remembered some of the pranks the boy used to pull. Still, from what they could tell from handwriting, most of those who hadn't been thrown out by then had done a particularly good job of information gathering. Giving all the Genin a free pass to the next round may have been an easy way out, but it was really the only option short of doing the whole thing over again, and they didn't want to waste the time or effort for something as ridicules as that. 'Oh well, just more contestants for the later parts of the exam,' he thought as he looked over the slightly odd request from Atum-Coma brought by Anko.

Their new allies had been informed what the exams would be and thus had only one request about the exams; that they skip any preliminary fights and go straight to the tournament. While it would make the tournament longer, it would make things more interesting. Personally, he couldn't wait to see the dignitaries from Nexus. If that flying ship was any indication, it would definitely be an event. Besides, perhaps they could shed some light on the reports he had been getting from the north about strange creatures being led by a demonic man in red armor. 'These are strange times, dangerous times,' the old ninja thought darkly.

Far to the north, in a hidden camp, twisted shadows conjugated around a single form that sat in front of a spectral fire. The killing intent from the form was practically tangible. It was a man, and that's using the term very loosely, covered in blood red armor. He smiled as he sensed the blood lust in Konoha. "Heh, there will be much blood to spill, especially a certain fox that escaped me," Bishamon smiled darkly as he gazed into his blade, remembering the small blonde boy, one of the few to ever escape him … and still be breathing.

**DARK TOME: ****Customs: Law Overview**

In Atum-Coma, with so many types of creatures running around, conflict is inevitable. While this is lessened greatly due to the separation of the districts as well as the presiding Monarchs, it does occur. To help lessen this, general laws has been passed with species specific laws also in effect. The general laws are no different then that of basic human laws, no stealing, no killing, no rape, no lying in court, etc. However, all these laws become much more flexible in Nexus then they would be anywhere else, hence the species specific laws. It is also important to note that a law made to affect a single specific species may be applicable to many others of similar type. For example, there is a law stating that priestesses and priests are forbidden to banish undead type darkstalkers without justifiable reasons. This same law can be applied to any holy person or spell caster as they all hold this ability or something similar. The laws regarding killing and feeding are especially flexible and with good reason.

For many darkstalkers, their feeding habits are not something easily controlled. While it is possible for them not to kill their victims, it is usually unavoidable for them to feed. Many cases have come up where a person has been fed on that while totally unwilling, was the only option available at the time. In a case like this, whether the victim was killed or not, the one who did the feeding was usually forgiven or at least given a more lenient punishment due to them having little or no choice in the matter. On the other hand, outright murder or feeding on someone when it was not necessary would be dealt with much more harshly. It is same for rape. Some creatures, such as succubae, require sex in order to survive on a regular basis and thus similar flexibility is applied. It is important to note that this flexibility only applies to certain species with certain laws and is usually handled on a case by case basis. Generally, as long the victim can make a reasonable recovery, the punishment is usually mild.

While some dislike this inequality, many are fine with it, publicly saying that's its necessary while secretly glad that they are not put on the same levels as others. Some laws aren't applied at all to some species. The most common example of this is clothing and bestial, plant, and similar type darkstalkers. Most bestial types, such as catwomen or werewolves, don't use much clothing due to their shifting abilities and the fact that their already covered in fur, keeping them decent in most people's eyes. Thus technically, they can walk around naked and no one cares. Same thing for aquatic, insect, and plant type darkstalkers. If they do wear clothes, they're usually enchanted level clothes that automatically shift as the user does.

**DARK TOME:**** Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Experimental**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid**

**Jägermonsters:** The police force in Atum-Coma, the Jägermonsters enforce any and all laws in Nexus. Humanoid constructs, they were originally created by Agatha Heterodyne grandfather, they have exaggerated teeth and claws and come in various skin colors. The have enhanced senses, incredible strength and durability, and are nearly impossible to kill. Good natured and usually speak with heavy German accent, the Jägermonsters are highly effective peace keepers of the general populace and thus are spread throughout Atum-Coma. Their intelligence level is questionable sometimes, but they are loyal to whom they serve and hold Agatha in the highest authority rather then the Youkai Kage due to her blood line. It is also because of her blood line that they will only allow her and subsequently her son to repair them. On an odd side note, Jägerkin have an odd affinity for lavish hats and rarely remove them, except when in mourning for someone or some similarly important event. Hence why the motto "Any plan where you lose your hat is a bad plan," is so popular with them. They are three generals who oversee all Jäger activities. Generals Khrizan, Zog, and Goomblast make sure all the Jägers are doing their jobs and, like the rest of them, hold Agatha as the highest authority.

AN: Sorry this took so long but I have quite a bit of college work to get done. Not only that, but I wanted to do the Test scene in a completely unique way, and a bar fight seemed like the best idea. Also, a few people keep asking about Anita, why darkstalkers would be ninjas, and other such things. Please don't email me asking such questions, it's really annoying. You'll get the answers eventually, so just be patient.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 20: Forest Findings

Kakashi sat in the Jonin lounge thinking over the last test. Something like that had never happened before and looking back on it, it had been a brilliant move. When the entire situation was geared towards your failure, change it. Create an opening to work with and that's exactly what the Nexus team did. 'Though creating total chaos was not what I would've done,' he thought wearily as he went over in his mind what he had learned so far about the Nexus teams, which was very little. Despite being an oddball group, they kept their secrets mostly to themselves, including the training they did. He did learn a few things though. One of which was that they were all nocturnal by nature and this day time schedule was not something they were used to. It just confirmed what Naruto had told the Hokage and the rumors surrounding Nexus that all the people there were nocturnal. However, there was no reason given as to why, well no official reason. The rumors stated that since most of those in Nexus were monsters, few of them could come out in the daylight. While that notion seemed ridicules, it still left the question of why open. Why were the ninja from Atum-Coma so nocturnal? The copy ninja was broken out of his thoughts as Anko walked into the lounge. "So, how was setting up the second test?" he asked casually.

The purple haired woman sat down with a sigh. "Not bad, I can already tell you that quite a few are planning to drop before they even enter. As for the rest, it'll be interesting to see who survives," she chuckled darkly.

"And how do you think your team will do?" he asked casually.

"They'll make it through with little trouble," she said honestly. It was completely true though. Mia and Ria would be right at home in the Forest of Death since it wasn't that much different from their home in the Wilds. Axel, she wasn't sure there was anything in the forest that he couldn't handle … or scare shitless. Last but certainly not least was Amethyst. Anko knew for a fact that there was next to nothing that could rattle that girl. 'Hell, she'll probably rob half the other teams anyway just for the fun of it,' she thought with a grin. "As will the other Nexus teams," she said confidently.

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Oh? What makes you so sure?" he asked, again casually. Like everyone, he wanted to know more about those from Nexus and other then Anko's reports and the rumors, there wasn't any other way to find out.

Anko just smiled a sadistic smile, making the one-eyed Jonin cringe slightly. "That's for me to know and you to worry about," she said sweetly.

Naruto, Anita, and Shiva made their way through the forest with ease. To Naruto, this was a taste of home. To Shiva and Anita, it was like visiting a friend's house, specifically Naruto's. In any case, the three made their way towards the tower, on the look out for any other team that might have the earth scroll since they had the heaven scroll. It was a little odd how the three of them ended up together. Naruto and Anita had been friends for a little longer then he had been a darkstalker. As for Shiva, that was a story unto itself. Basically, Demitri and Morrigan wanted to meet the boy who was giving darkstalkers a second chance and had brought their daughter with them. Ever since, he couldn't lose her. She had deemed him "interesting" early on and had stuck to him like glue. At first he was annoyed but eventually came to like her, especially when she helped him out with pranks on the upper class demons. Like her mother, she thought the demon aristocracy was far too stagnant and needed some … livening up.

The trio of darkstalkers made their way towards the tower. Suddenly Naruto stopped as well as Anita and Shiva. The two females looked him to see what had caused him to hold up. He grinned and pointed to a small group of trees where another ninja team was hiding. The other two could see them as well now that they were pointed out. From the looks of it, they were stone ninja and they had an Earth scroll which the Nexus team needed. The other two nodded and made their way, silently surrounding the unsuspecting group. This was going to easy. On the far side of the forest, Verity, Jack, and Leon made their way through the forest with ease. With the Netherleaf leading the way through the dense foliage, subtly manipulating it, they made good time towards the tower. They had already acquired a scroll of heaven to go with their earth scroll. With Leon's mind, the complexity of the traps they had set would've made ANBU nervous. The traps had caught several groups along with a few animals. Team 10 had decided to simply leave them there; less problems later. Consequently, Nexus Team 8 made out like bandits or pirates to be more accurate, since they were trailing Team 10. As a result, a number of teams were left high and dry in nothing but their underwear and a signal flare to get help, Team 10 wasn't cruel … normally anyway. Needless to say, even if Team 10 failed, which was unlikely, this trip wouldn't be a total loss, financially speaking.

Night fell and while many teams rested, the Nexus teams kept moving, unhindered by the darkness. Team 7 made their way, having dealt with the stone ninjas easily. To be more accurate, Shiva had charmed the lot of them and then partially drained them of their blood, knocking them out. Besides, Shiva had been getting hungry and a hungry vampire, or half-vampire half-succubus in this case, was a cranky one. However as they made their way, it was Anita who stopped them this time, apparently sensing something. Silently following her, they were treated to an odd sight. It was the Leaf Team 7, looking like they had been through hell. Sakura was roughed up quite a bit, Sai was injured and barely conscious, and Sasuke was out cold and reeking of twisted energy. The three landed, startling an already hi-strung Sakura. "What happened?" Anita asked simply as she stared at Sasuke's still form.

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed in relief, seeing it was someone familiar. Despite being strange, the three Nexus ninja weren't radiating any killer intent. The red headed girl walked towards Sasuke and seemed to be looking him over, as if searching for something. She sighed, deciding she had very little to lose at this point. "We were ambushed by this freaky snake guy who was way too powerful for us. He injured Sai and did something weird to Sasuke. He extended his neck and bit him, causing that thing on his neck to appear," she said as she moved the cloth back to let them see. Anita frowned slightly, as she unwrapped the beads around her body, which were glowing. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sakura asked alarmed as the beads formed a circle around Anita and Sasuke, their glow intensifying to bright white. On the ground beneath them, a white spell circle appeared. Anita started to chant softly as she placed her hands on the Curse Seal on Sasuke's shoulder. Sakura turned to Naruto and Shiva who were staring wide-eyed at their partner. "What is she doing?"

"Be calm," Shiva said quietly, so as not to disturb Anita. "Anita is attempting to purify your friend of the mark that man gave him," the hybrid explained as she watched her friend work. Sakura and Sai watched with rapt attention, but for completely different reasons. Sakura was hoping the red-head could take away that mark as it seemed it was going to kill her teammate and crush. Sai on the other hand was interested in seeing what this girl from Nexus was capable of and reporting it back to Danzo. Once more, he was curious about the strange jutsu the girl was using.

Deep inside the mind of Sasuke, Anita wandered, looking for the boy. The place was completely black, everything covered in shadows. She continued to search until she found what she was looking for. Sasuke was ahead with his back towards her. In front of them was a grim scene, two adults being murdered by a younger man that bore a strange resemblance to Sasuke. The murder was brutal and kept repeating itself several times. She silently watched as the man turned towards Sasuke and spoke in a disturbing a voice. "If you wish to avenge them, hate me. Hate me and grow stronger." The image shifted to a pale man who reminded Anita of a twisted version of a naga in looks. When the young man had been was now the older pale man. "I will make you stronger, strong enough to avenge those whom you have lost," he said in a seductive tone.

Anita narrowed her eyes as she started doing unusual hand seals. "I've seen enough," she mumbled, causing Sasuke to turn around and finally notice her. She flung her hands forward. "_Vision Pierce!"_ she called out as a white light erupted from her form, dispelling everything but her and Sasuke.

"You … you're Anita from the City hidden in the Nexus, Atum-Coma," the Uchiha stated in his semi-dazed state. She nodded quietly. "Why are you here?" he asked. With his mind being warped from the mark and the visions he had been forced to witness, he wasn't sure what was going on.

"You've been marked," she stated bluntly. "This mark will give you power, but take away your free will. You will not be able to do what needs to be done," she stated simply. Sasuke nodded in understanding. "If you wish, I can contain the mark until it can be removed," she asked him. Truthfully she could do that even without his consent, but it would be much easier if he did. Sasuke stared at her for a moment, thinking carefully about her offer. While he wanted power, it wouldn't do him much good if he wasn't the one who decided what it could be used for. What good was an advantage if you couldn't decide how to use it? He nodded his consent and Anita immediately went to work, finding the process of containing the Heaven Seal to be difficult and was glad Sasuke wasn't resisting her.

On the outside, Anita's beads erupted into streams of white light that bent themselves and focused on Sasuke's shoulder. Sai, Sakura, Shiva, and Naruto all watched as a symbol formed around the mark from the light. It solidified into a white octagon mark that was made up of eight, smaller trigram symbols. Eventually the light faded and the bead returned to their place, wrapped around Anita. She stood up, thought a little unsteady as Sasuke slowly woke up. He rubbed his should as it throbbed with Light energy, containing the cursed mark Orochimaru had put on him. He looked at the red-headed girl who was now leaning against a root of the huge tree they were under. He nodded thanks to her as she nodded in acknowledgement. The cursed seal hadn't even been fully formed and wouldn't fully form for some time as long as her seal barrier held. Shiva then spoke up in a serious voice, lacking her usually sultriness and playfulness. "We need to get to the tower quickly. Anita's seal barrier will only keep that thing from forming for so long. Sasuke, you need to take it easy and avoid using chakra. Okay, Naruto, you take point. Anita will guard the rear. Sakura and I will help Sasuke and Sai. We need to get to the tower quickly," she ordered.

"Wait, we still need an Earth scroll in order to pass," Sakura spoke worriedly. While she wanted Sasuke to see a medic-nin as soon as possible, she didn't want to fail just because they ran into some freaky Grass ninja.

Shiva frowned. "There's nothing we can do about that at the moment. Right now our foremost goal is to get to the tower and see to Sasuke before Anita's barrier breaks," she ordered. Nodding in consent, Sakura helped Sasuke to his feet while Shiva did the same for Sai. The six made their way towards the tower, Naruto sniffing out any traps that they normally would've stumbled into. All the while, Sai observed the Nexus shinobi carefully. There was definitely something … off about them. For one thing, he had never seen anything like what Anita had done to that dark mark on Sasuke. That wasn't a sealing technique, but then what was it? What was that weird white chakra? Was it even chakra? There was also Shiva; something about her just didn't sit right with him. The way she kept glancing at both him and Sasuke, almost like she was looking at a three course meal. What were these guys?

As the group made their way through the Forest of Death, Naruto noticed something off to their side. He was surprised to see Nexus Team 10 come up next to them. Amethyst waved with her one free hand while the other gripped a rather large sack full of who-knows-what. "Avast mates, good to see ye haven't sunk yet," she greeted as her team came up next to the group, keeping up with them through the tree tops despite the sacks they were carrying. The pirate grinned seeing her friends and then noticed the state of the Leaf Team 7. "What happened to them?" she asked looking over Sasuke, Sai, and then resting her gaze on Sakura.

"They were ambushed by a strange Grass-nin who placed a corrupted mark on Sasuke. We need to get him some medical attention quickly," Anita spoke quickly and quietly. Amethyst, Axel, and Ria (or what it Mia?) all nodded in understanding.

Before anyone could say anything else, Sakura piped up in an annoyed voice. "Worst part is, that we never got an Earth scroll, so we're going to fail just because we ran into some freaky Grass-nin who I severely doubt was a Genin," she complain with a sour look on her face.

Ria (or Mia) and Axel groaned as they saw Amy's mouth form into a Cheshire like grin. "Well, it just so happens that we have a spare Earth scroll. I'll gladly give it to ye … for a price," she said in a seductive tone that even Shiva could applaud.

"What kind of price?" Sakura asked carefully while the group continued on its way towards the tower. Amethyst just chuckled and motioned for the Leaf ninja to come closer. Once the pink-haired girl was close enough, the pirate whispered something to her so softly that not even Naruto or his sisters heard. Sakura's eyes widened considerably and her face immediately became as red a tomato. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" she yelled out, startling the whole group. "No way! Forget it!" she said with certainty while she shook her head violently.

The pirate just continued to grin. "Suit yourself lassie," she said as she pulled out an Earth scroll from the sack and held it out as if dangling a piece of meat in front of a starving dog. "Than I guess your team will just have to fail because you aren't willing to make a small … concession," she said while holding out the scroll to the girl. Sakura just growled lowly for a few moments before snatching the scroll out of the pirate's hand, causing her to grin even wider. "Then we have an accord. After all this Exam business is taken care of, I'll contact you with the details," she said simply. Sakura grumbled but said nothing, causing the rest of them to wonder what exactly this bargain entailed for her to be so riled up about it.

The arrived at the tower and noticed that some other teams had already arrived. Opening the scrolls, they summoned Iruka, Mei-Ling, and Suzuka respectively. After explaining what happened, Iruka took Leaf Team 7 for medical treatment while the Nexus teams were led to where the other teams had gathered for the time being. Mei-Ling complimented Anita on her quick thinking and use of a Light sealing spell on that mark. All together from the Leaf came Teams 7, 8, 10, 13, and Guy. From Sand was the Sand trio. From Nexus were teams 7, 8, and 10. Last was the Sound Team. All together that meant that 30 people had made it through. Anko stood looking over the groups, slightly impressed that so many had made it through. Of course, given the fact that they basically skipped the first test, it wasn't that surprising. Now they were going to have to skip the preliminaries mostly because Nexus had requested it. While it was slightly unusual, the Leaf had accepted the request, opting to show off the ninjas more. 'Boy is everyone in for a surprise,' the half-naga thought. "Okay kids, since you made it out alive, you get to be in the tournament. At this point, you'll all be competing individually, so no need to worry about your teams anymore. Now normally with this many survivors we'd have some preliminaries to weed out the pathetic ones, but instead we're gonna let you all get humiliated in a big public tournament one month from now. During this tournament you'll be individually judged on whether or not you become a Chunin. Keep in mind brats that even if you win the tournament you could still not make Chunin and likewise even if you lose the first round you could still make Chunin. We're going to draw lots, with myself drawing for Sasuke and Sai since they had to receive medical attention," she explained.

The various Genin walked up and drew a ball, each getting a random number for the tournament. Once they were done drawing, the order came out like this.

01. Verity-Y **VS **Ten-Ten

02. Yoroi Akado **VS **Kankuro of the Desert

03. Kiba Inuzuka **VS **(Mia) Talbain

04. Neji Hyuuga **VS **Amethyst Heart

05. Axel Raptor **VS **Tsurugi

06. Temari **VS **Kin Tsuchi

07. Shiva Maximof **VS **Gaara of the Desert

08. Jack Smith **VS **Nara Shikamaru

09. Anita Blaine **VS **Kabuto

10. Ino Yamanaka **VS **Sakura Haruno

11. Sasuke Uchiha **VS **Naruto Talbain

12. Leon Wulfenbach **VS **Hanabi Hyuuga

13. Shino Aburame **VS **Abumi

14. Rock Lee **VS **Kinuta

15. Sai **VS **Choji Akimichi

All things considered, this was going to be interesting.

**DARK TOME: Seals & Darkstalkers**

**NOTE:**** Excerpt is written by Alice, Head Director & Doctor of Nexus Rehabilitation Asylum.**

**Date:**** 4 August 0006 A.E. (After Exodus: 6 years after leaving the Lost Zone)**

Since arriving into this world from the Lost Zone and setting up the Asylum, I've begun my research into this world's little quirks. The first of which that I've encounter is its seals, specifically the seal used to contain the Kyuubi into Naruto. Since then I have studied various seals used by both ninja and civilians to determine their lasting effects on those of the … less human persuasion. What I have discovered is quite curious. First off, seals in this world are used for a number of things, mostly to store or contain items or energy for later use. They can also be used to modify or effect changes on other beings such as enhancing performance or controlling their minds. It's quite fascinating actually.

The first thing to note is that seals meant for and made by humans will have drastically different effects when used on darkstalkers. For example, I've noticed many a paranoid clan which uses a type of slavery seal on their own family to keep their secrets hidden from the enemy. Said seal is usually designed to cause extreme pain or brain failure, quite unpleasant actually. In any case, if the same seal were to be applied on a darkstalker, say a catwoman for example, the results would be much different depending on when the seal was activated. If the catwoman was in humanoid form, then the seal's original function may work since physically and mentally in this form the darkstalker is quite similar. However, it would not cause death or even an equal amount of pain as it would if placed on a human. In cat form, the effects would be lessened even further. This is what I've found to be the most common result, though not the only one by far.

If this same seal were to be placed on a plant or an undead type darkstalker, it would have zero effect simply because neither have any working brains, so to speak. Even curiouser is if the seal were to be put on a sexual type demon such as a succubus, who enjoy pain equally as well as pleasure. Again, this seal wouldn't kill her, but instead she would actually enjoy the thing, I might try it myself one of these days.

The reason for these various reactions is simple. Most of the seals currently in existence were made by humans to be used on humans. While there have been similar spell seals used by various spell casters and such, they lack the sheer complexity or efficiency the seals from this world have. In any case, the more difference between the darkstalker on which the seal is used and a normal human, the greater the effects will be lessened or twisted. In a few cases the results can be very … interesting, such as placing a mind affecting seal on a Spark. Agatha and Gil are still miffed about that one. Oh well, they'll get over it eventually, that Spark was weak and expendable anyway. I will continue my research on these seals and their various effects on darkstalkers.

Incidentally, my research on Anita Blaine has hit a wall so to speak. Agatha, Mei-Ling, Hsien-Ko, and I have all run various tests to determine what she is and yet we've come up with no answers. How a being, a little human looking girl no less, could exist with every type of chakra, both darkstalker and human, as well the power of the Light and the Dark without self-destructing is beyond reason, even my reason. I know there is something we've all overlooked, a possibility we haven't considered. I will continue my research on both and record my findings. Perhaps Yomiko will have some ideas.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 21: Lethal Leftovers: A Daughter Found

Dignitaries and representatives flooded into Konoha for the upcoming Chunin tournament. Not only were they excited to see the fights, but many officials were interested in seeing the representatives from Nexus Country. Even the Fire Daimyo and his family came to meet them. All of those visiting had to do a double take when they saw Hokage Mountain and the floating ship docked at its side. Many were also wondering at the odd explosion and strange noises heard on the ship at night and how it seemed almost dead during the day. Over the next week, people wondered and speculated about the ship and the people of Nexus. Given how strange the Genin and their instructors were and the rumors from before, the ideas being thrown around were pretty wild.

Sarutobi met with the Daimyo and other officials from the various lands at the Hokage tower. Ibiki, Anko, other high ranking ANBU and Jonin were present. Hidden within the group was Orochimaru as the Kazekage as well as the leader of Root, Danzo. The heads of the various clans of Konoha were there for the meet and greet. Everything was going fine until an alarm was heard, apparently coming from the floating ship. "What is that?" Sarutobi asked as everyone went to the meeting room's windows to see the crew of the Dark Blade apparently abandoning the ship and quarantining it. From the room they were in they could see the Nexus Genin teams all heading to where the ship was docked to see what was happening. "I wonder what's going on," the old man wondered out loud.

Just then a Chunin came into the office. "Lord Hokage, there's some type of emergency going on with the Nexus ship. Something about a code 75817?" he said uncertainty.

Anko looked up at that moment with a surprised look on her face. "Did you say a code 75817?" The Chunin nodded as everyone turned their attention on the special Jonin. "Wow, never thought I'd run into one of those outside of Nexus. Course, considering it's a Nexus ship," she muttered more to herself than the people around her.

"Anko, just what exactly is a code 75817?" Ibiki asked curiously. Everyone listened, just as curious as the interrogator was.

"Code 75817: Unknown mutated creature living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of the coleslaw," she responded in a lecture type format, as if reading it out of a dictionary. Everyone, including the Chunin that had come with the message; were all staring at her with weird looks on their faces, blinking like deer caught in the headlights.. "What?" she asked indignantly.

Shikaku Nara was the first to speak, saying what everyone was thinking. "They actually have a code for that? How often does this happen?"

Anko shrugged. "Eh, more than you'd think. In any case, it's pretty routine, easy to deal with … usually. First quarantine the area then bring in a Spark to neutralize the creature/substance," she said simply. "Just be glad it's a 75817 and not a 75892, those are really nasty," she said absently as she started for the door to see how her student Amethyst would hand this since it was her ship. "So, wanna go see the show?" she asked with a grin as she started out the door.

"I'm afraid to ask, but what's a 75892?" Sarutobi asked tiredly as he and the other representatives went to follow her.

Anko just grinned. "Unknown mutated creature living in the toilet behind the air freshener, next to the towels, and to the right of the plunger," she said causing everyone to sweat drop. As they made their way to where the ship was docked, they could hear a girl's voice loudly berating one of the sailors from the ship. Anko recognized it as Amy's and boy was she pissed. She was ranting for a short time before calming down.

Amethyst Heart was not happy. Having an unknown mutated creature living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of the coleslaw occur on her ship was both an embarrassment and an annoyance. "All right you scallywags, I want this ship quarantined now!" she ordered before turning to Leon who was holding what looked like a large metal container with a strap. "This the stuff?" she asked the Spark. He nodded quietly, not wanting to risk her wrath. Amethyst then took off her cloak and hat, handing them to the nearest sailor, finally revealing what she looked like to everyone. The officials all stared and were surprised at what they saw. She wore dark brown baggy pants, black boots, a dark purple vest with blue trim, black fingerless gloves, and a dark purple bandana on her head. She had long dark hair styled in a long braid with many smaller braids, some with trinkets woven in. What really caught their attention were her eyes. They were white with pale purple irises and no pupils … just like Hiashi's eyes. "Kir, time to go to work!" she ordered the small black bird.

"Aye aye captain!" he saluted as he perched on her shoulder. She unsheathed her sword, Sharkey. It was shaped like a traditional pirate cutlass, with a skull face as the guard. The blade itself was thicker than normal, colored a bluish gray on top with a light shade below. At the end of the blade was a set of teeth and eyes that resembled a shark's head with a ring through what would be the nose. The thing growled as the mouth licked its lips, muttering something along the lines of "num nums." Most of the spectators that weren't from Nexus were disturbed by this. Connected to the handle was a long chain with an anchor like hook at the end. Amethyst strapped the container to her back, threw the chain like a grappling hook and swung onto the ship. The crowd watched as she went below deck to deal with the creature living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of the coleslaw.

Hiashi watched carefully as the image of girl's eyes flashed through his mind. There were no Hyuuga outside of Konoha and certainly none that age. He thought back to the rescue reports from years ago, when Hidden Cloud had attempted to kidnap his daughter and instead were all slaughtered by an unknown force. All they had found were signs of a massive, bloody fight and that the scents had simply vanished … into thin air. 'Is it possible?' the clan head thought as he heard sounds of a fight going on inside the ship between the young captain and a mutated creature. 'Could she be?' the thoughts continued as the main hatch used for loading cargo blew open with the pirate girl flying out it followed by a weird, deformed, fanged mouth surrounded by equally deformed tentacles, all colored a sickly green and pale brown. Using the chain on her sword, Amethyst hooked onto one of the sail supports, swung, and landed with practiced ease onto another of the supports. With his Byakugan, Hiashi watched in fascination as the girl defended herself from the tentacles. Her sword movements were flawless despite said sword being almost as big as her. Each slash flowed into the next into a never ending stream. Even more remarkable was that she was able to this while balancing on the sail support pole, again with remarkable ease. Upon closer inspection, his suspicions were confirmed. Around the girl's eyes were bulging veins as she moved, blocking attacks that no way could she have seen with normal vision. This young pirate captain Amethyst Heart was his daughter … Hinata Hyuuga. 'Anko's got some serious explaining to do,' he thought grimly as he watched his daughter fight with almost insane glee.

Amethyst was having a good time, especially with all the spectators gaping at seeing her fight leftovers with an attitude problem. 'Time to end this,' she thought as she attached Sharkey to her back. "Okay Kir, time to wrap things up," she shouted as she raised her arm to the bird. He only grinned and began to glow a strange green light. Instantly, the black bird's wings, body, and beak all grew larger. His legs and talons merged and shifted, forming what looked like a rib cage almost. It went along the length of her forearm and clasped on, securing the bird tightly to her. She jumped up high, evading the tentacles as she took aim. "GIMMIE A KIR ROYALE!" she cried out as orbs of burning green energy erupted from Kir's mouth. The orbs impacted, causing massive explosions and eradicating the tentacles, leaving the snarling mouth wide open. Heaving the canister on her back, she flipped a switch and threw it right into the mouth. A muffled explosion was heard just before the thing started to cry out in pain as it started to dissolve before everyone's eyes.

On the cliff side, where a good number of spectators had gathered, people were amazed at what they had seen. A number of ninja teams were also taking note of what one of the Nexus ninja were capable of, including the Leaf teams. Ino whistled in admiration as she saw Amethyst land on the deck of her ship. "Man that was some fight. Wonder what was in that capsule thing," she said out loud.

Leon just smiled and answered her question. "It was an extremely high concentration of sodium bicarbonate armed with several high grade explosive tags with delayed detonations," he explained.

Shikamaru thought for a moment before realizing what the Spark said. "Sodium bi …you mean to tell me that was a baking soda bomb?" he cried out stunned. "Are things always this troublesome?" the shadow user asked.

Leon shook his head. "Not always, sometimes things get weird," the Spark said with a grin. That caused those listening to shiver in fear. A flying pirate ship, killer leftovers, and a bomb of baking soda and that wasn't considered weird? Oh boy.

That evening, Hiashi called Anko into his office. He did not want to confront his daughter until he knew why she had been hidden from him. The purple-haired kunoichi entered the room and sat down quietly, already knowing what the clan head wanted to discuss. "Why did you hide my daughter from me?" he asked bluntly with controlled rage.

Anko sighed, knowing this was coming but still not liking it. "When I first encountered her in Atum-Coma, she had already been taken in by Admiral Ruby Heart. Apparently, Admiral Heart had saved the girl's life the night she had been kidnapped and was thus owed a life debt. Hinata was required by honor and the pirate code to serve her until the debt was repaid. That debt was cancelled out when the Admiral officially adopted Hinata and renamed her Amethyst due to family tradition and her eyes. By the time I met her, she had already become a pirate. I was ordered by Admiral Heart not to say anything under threat of her raiding Konoha. While she may listen to the Youkai Kage, the Monarchs, and to Naruto, she would not tolerate anyone taking away what she considers HER daughter. She and her fleet would be more than able to eradicate Konoha and the Hyuuga to ensure that and we wouldn't be able to even touch her. She's have her fleet bombard Konoha into the ground from so high up that none of our jutsu would be able to reach them," she explained. The Hyuuga clan head calmed down at her explanation, seeing as she was just doing what was best for the village. "Also, Hinata, or rather Amethyst, seemed fine and happy to me, so I obeyed," she added.

Hiashi sighed, not able to be angry with Anko anymore. "I see," he said simply. "Is there any way for me to get her back according to Atum-Coma's laws?" he asked the snake Jonin. He knew that under Konoha's laws he'd be able to get her back on the grounds that she was legally and genetically his daughter and thus part of an important clan. However, he had no clue how things worked in Atum-Coma and given the strange show that he had seen today on that flying ship, he had good reason to be weary.

Anko sighed as she thought for a few moments. "I'm honestly not sure. Custody cases are usually handled by the Monarch of that region in Atum-Coma. In this case, you'd want to talk to the Sovereign; Shinara, she's the Monarch of Sky-Hold, the district Admiral Heart is listed under. The problem is that both of you have a legal claim to her, you through blood and origin and Ruby through that debt and adoption. It may come down to her choosing between you or Ruby. If that happens, I'm sorry to say that she'll more than likely choose to stay with her," Anko explained what she knew. There was also the possibility of Hiashi marrying Ruby but the half-naga decided to keep that idea to her self, knowing the Hyuuga wouldn't take too kindly to it.

Hiashi nodded. "Thank you Anko. You've given me much to think about. I would ask that you not mention this to anyone, including Hinata, until I can come up with something," he said respectfully. Anko nodded and got up to leave. "One more thing," he spoke quietly, just enough so she would hear. "How is she?" he asked carefully.

Anko smiled. Despite his often cold exterior, Hiashi wasn't as much of a bastard as people thought. "She's willful, stubborn, and likes to do things her own way. Quite frankly, I think she takes after both you and Ruby."

Back on the Dark Blade, the entire crew was working to clean up the mess left by the remains of the creature that lived in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of the coleslaw. Apparently it originally had been new dish concocted by cook called Zombie Gumbo Surprise, some surprise. Amethyst order a complete purge of the ship, no inch of it was to be left unchecked. The last thing anyone needed was for the leftovers from hell to reappear. She stood on the rear of the ship, taking in the night sky. It had been an interesting day and while she had enjoyed it, she had also exposed herself … to her father. 'Mum is gonna have fit,' she thought as she noticed something on the horizon. Taking out her spy glass, she looked to see a massive storm cloud heading towards the village. It was colored dark purple with bolts of lightning shooting all around it, but none were striking the ground and there was no rain. Amethyst smiled, 'The wind's a changing; lets see what it brings.'

**DARK TOME****: Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Created (These creatures are not born and must be created through some type of event)**

**Sub Type:**** Varies**

**Elementals:** Elementals in general are the embodiment of certain common aspects of the universe. These embodiments can come from any aspect of the universe. These embodiments take the general appearance of whatever creature is the most powerful, numerous in the area they are formed in, or best suited to their nature depending on what type of elemental they are. It is also important to note that elementals can change their shape should they feel a deep need to. When encountering an elemental, extreme caution is recommended. While they were once uncommon, they have been appearing more and more in Nexus due to the concentration of all the different energies. So far there have only been a few cases

Elementals are formed a number of different ways. Natural elementals are formed when an immense concentration of a single aspect of the universe is compacted into a very small area through supernatural or unnatural means. The most common formation of elementals occurs at leylines, specifically at cross sections or where a leyline has been disrupted. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, leylines are pathways of supernatural and natural energy that flow through the planet like blood through the human body. Elementals can also be formed by powerful magic users who seek to use them as servants. However, no one has ever been able to fully subdue an elementals instincts and it is unlikely even possible. There is also the rare possibility of an elemental giving birth to another elemental. However this is only speculation and has not been proven. Last, but not least, is the possibility of a mortal entity becoming an elemental. This is only a rumor and is generally regarded as a hoax by experts. There are two central types of elementals; physical and metaphysical. Physical elementals represent literal aspects of the universe such as fire, water, wind, earth, ice, darkness, light, etc. Metaphysical elementals represent things that are concepts and have no definite form such as love, hate, sincerity, time, illusion, knowledge, etc.

One important fact about elementals is that they tend to seek out like or similar places/energies/beings to themselves. If they can't find any, they then attempt to create them by any means necessary, either through direct force (physical) or various types of manipulation (metaphysical). Doing so increases their own strength regardless of type and is the very core of all elementals' actions.

Physical Elemental Characteristics

All elementals are composed of a singular aspect of universe. This compressed aspect is what makes up their bodies. As a result of this, most physical elementals' bodies are insubstantial, meaning they can be dispersed in order to destroy them. However, this also means that they can absorb anything nearby with similar qualities to increase their own strength as well as reform/heal themselves if the dispersing is not absolute. Another important fact about elementals is that they are mostly controlled by their instincts. Since elementals are embodiments of aspects in the universe, they have no soul, but they do however contain intelligence. Their intelligence varies from elemental to elemental, ranging from the equivalent of a 3 year old human to an adult human. They can learn, speak, think for themselves, and even hold the capability for understanding complex concepts. Another odd quirk about elementals that results from them being embodiments is that they have no gender or sex. Since they can change their bodies to whatever shape they wish, they can appear to be male or female or whatever they wish at the time. It should be noted that most elementals change form based on their mood and preference if they have any. It varies greatly from type to type. Physical elementals are easy to identify as their bodies generally look like whatever element they are. Fire elementals are constantly on fire, wind is constantly moving, earth has a rock like hide, etc. Like all elementals, they will seek out things similar to themselves. This means areas that contain a lot of the same material that they themselves are composed of. Example: Fire elementals will seek out volcanoes or try to cause wildfires, water elementals will go to lakes, rivers, or oceans or attempt to cause a flood if unable to. Currently, there are no known physical type elementals in Nexus.

Metaphysical Elemental Characteristics

Like physical elementals, metaphysical types are composed of a singular aspect of universe and are no less dangerous. However, unlike physical, this aspect doesn't make up their bodies and instead makes up their very nature. Their bodies are made up of concentrated energy that is fueled by whatever aspect they represent. Like their physical counterparts, metaphysical elementals are dictated by their instincts, however on average they tend to be more far more intelligent. There has been debate on whether metaphysical elementals have a soul or not, but it hasn't been proven one way or another. While metaphysical elementals can shape shift like physical elementals, they only do it either to fight or to further manipulate people, otherwise they tend to stay in a single form. Also, since they are embodiments of concepts rather than physical things, they usually take on the form of civilized beings rather than animals like physical elementals are prone to do. Another difference between the two types is that while physical elementals are easy to identify by looks, metaphysical elementals are able to blend in rather easily and as such, have to be identified by their actions. Another way to identify them is to look at the people around them, as metaphysical elementals tend to give off an aura that affects those who either aren't strong willed enough. It is important to note that these auras will not affect other elementals, metaphysical or physical. They tend to use these auras to manipulate others to be like them in order to increase their own strength. For example; a greed type elemental will use its aura to make others greedy, feed off that greed, grow stronger, increase the power of the aura, make people even greedier, and continue the cycle. Currently, the only known metaphysical type elementals in Nexus are contained within the Asylum under the watch of Alice.

AN: This chapter was to set up for what's coming. Incidentally, if anyone can guess where I got the creature idea, you get a cookie. This elemental DARK TOME I based heavily off of my original description of elementals from my other story Stone Prison.


	22. Dark Tome II AtumComa City Info

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 22: **DARK TOME II – Atum-Coma City Information**

**CITY SITES**

**Location: Youkai Kage Tower**

**District: None – Located in center of Atum-Coma**

**Info: **The nerve center of Atum-Coma, this is where most if not all the politics of the country are conducted. It holds all official documents and is the place where the current Youkai Kage resides. Meetings are held regularly with the Monarchs on the condition of Nexus and Atum-Coma. It is also heavily guarded with a security system designed and built by Agatha and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. There are also rumors that the building itself is possessed, but they have yet to be confirmed or disproved. Other than that not much information is known about the tower outside of the Monarchs and a few choice officials.

Just below the tower is the Market Square. Just as the Tower is the hub for political and official business, the Market Square is the hub for social gatherings and vendors from all over. Sales happen often and as a result this area can be a bit hectic, even by Nexus standards. Stampedes happen semi-regularly depending on the time of year.

**Location: Twilight University**

**District: Clockworks**

**Info: **A central hub of education in Atum-Coma, Twilight University is a place of learning, excitement, and regular explosions. Founded in 0001 A.E by the Wulfenbachs, the Twilight University is dedicated to the advancement of all beings, darkstalker, human, or otherwise. Constructed in an English Gothic style, this campus offers classes in everything, both in science and sorcery, with the student teacher ratio being 19 to 1 on average. Classes range from simple courses such as Elementary Chemistry and Basic Charms to advanced courses such as Advanced Clank Construction and Master Level Spell Seals. It is important to note that while this campus offers a good number of classes on just about anything, all combat style spells, machines, and similar techniques are not taught here. At best are self-defense classes but nothing more lethal than that. The reason for this is that darkstalkers tend to rely on their own methods/instincts for fighting and that all combat related education is taught at the Ninja Academy and then by private instructors. Anyone is allowed to enroll, provided they are able to pay the admission fees. If not, there are a number of scholarships that anyone can apply for and receive based on the type of potential they have. Currently, the Dean of this University is Master Payne, a former director and owner of a traveling Heterodyne Show from the Lost Zone.

Not only does Twilight University act as a center for higher education, but also for various kinds of research in all fields. While it is true that some research is done on special cites around Atum-Coma, most of the general research, such as machine and spell development happens right on campus. As a result, it is not uncommon to see the occasional experiment running loose and or rampant across campus.

**Location: Aurora Eye Opera House**

**District: The Wilds**

**Info:** The Aurora Eye Opera House was founded and now managed by Alpha Felicia Talbain due to her love of the arts at the founding of the city. Situated on the border between The Wilds and Clockworks, this huge theater takes form of a massive tree on a hillside and hosts several different theaters; a Concert Hall, an Opera Theatre, a Drama Theatre, a Playhouse, and a Studio Theatre with 6,000 seats dived between them. Interestingly though, despite taking up 5 acres of land, this massive contribution to the arts was not built per se, but rather grown with the aide of Netherleafs with the influence of Sparks and the spirit bees, hence it's location. Under Mrs. Talbain's guidance, the Aurora Eye hosts up 3,000 events each year, drawing crowds from all over Nexus and then some. In fact, the place almost constantly has shows and or programs going on. The only time it is closed is for repairs or creature infestation (which doesn't happen very often thanks to the fact that this place is LOVED by spirit bees). Tickets to anything are usually difficult to get and as a result must be obtained in advance or through special deals, whichever is available. Please note that those who have tried to sneak into the shows without a ticket have been unceremoniously drop-kicked out of the theater.

**Location: Great Twilight Bridge**

**District: Outer Territory**

**Info:** The Great Twilight Bridge, built by the "super bridge builder" Tazuna with help from the Wulfenbachs and the spirit bees, is the only thing connecting the mainland to Nexus. As such, it is both heavily traveled and heavily protected. The entire bridge is built in sections with each section be submersible if needed. This feature was added as a type of defense both for Atum-Coma and for the bridge itself. However, due to the fact that the bridge is sandwiched between the two Outer Territories, it is rarely used for defense and instead just a single section is lowered in order to allow ships to pass by. This bridge also has extra protection by the Leviathan, which is a massive sea-type hydra with a bad disposition towards those it doesn't know. To those it does know it's rather like a massive, multi-headed, water-based puppy.

**Location: Star Blight Club**

**District: Makai**

**Info:** The most popular dance club in all of Atum-Coma, the Star Blight was originally founded by Morrigan's sister Lillith on the joking suggestion of Felicia Talbain. Designed to be as varied as Atum-Coma itself, this club is divided into several sections, a bar, and a dance floor, a stage for various acts, a restaurant, and a few more private areas for various things. Lillith herself is often seen around the club when she's not with her sister, having fun at the expense of or with the patrons. This place is quite popular with all types of crowds from the younger generation wanting a place to hang out to black market dealings to the demon aristocracy holding meetings there. Surprisingly, very few fights break out in the club due to the fact that it is frequented by ninja and jägermonsters who usually want nothing more then to get a good drink without any problems. On a side note, order the "Nexus Nightmare Special" drink at your own risk. While not able to cause a full upset stomach, it has caused a few spirit bees to become queasy … and tear paint off walls in seconds.

**Location: Nexus Cathedral**

**District: Helios**

**Info:** Built in the classic gothic style, this large temple like structure was built to be a focal point of worship and spirituality. With stained glass windows donated from EVERY SPECIES in Nexus displaying either a part of their history or lore, this place is widely respected by everyone and is one of the few places that are immune to Atum-Coma's … rowdiness. Many services of various religions are held here daily to various gods/goddesses/spirits. Built by various darkstalkers and humans, this Cathedral was meant to be a place to consolidate the power of Light and of the Dark to be used in various rituals and spells, usually of the large scale kind. This place was also created to research about the Light and the Dark, to find out what they truly are and where they come from. So far, there has been little success.

**Location: Tortugas**

**District: Sky Hold**

**Info:** Named for an infamous sea port back in the Lost Zone, this place is considered one of the rowdiest places in Nexus, and that's saying something. There are little to no rules and as such is the favorite hangout of sky pirates, mercenaries, dealers, and the occasional nut job. Apparently stuck in a constant bar fight when open, this place is perfect for making various deals and finding information, if you can sort through the chaos. This is also a good place to pick up help for just about any job you have in mind that doesn't require and can't use ninjas. On a lighter note, this place serves some of the finest rum in Nexus, provided you can get it without being sucker punched.

**CITY EVENTS**

**Sport: Racing**

**Info:** A quickly growing sport in Nexus, racing consists of two main classes with three sub-classes each. The main classes are Feral racing and Mech racing with the sub-classes for both being land, air, and water. Feral racing is mostly for darkstalkers of appropriate types, such as bestial and ground for the land class, flying and wind for air, and aquatic and water for water. In this class, the racers go through the course under their own power but can use any techniques they want, such as the _Rolling Buckler_ or the _Beast Cannon_ techniques in order to race. They may not use any type of outside enhancements while racing. The Mech class is basically the same except that it uses vehicles and or large beasts to race. In this class, any modifications are allowed provided they're within the weight and mass limit. These races take place all over Nexus and happen on a semi-regular basis. However, with the coming alliance with Konoha, those in charge of the races are looking to expand. There are also special exhibition races that pit Feral racers against Mech racers, but those are few and far between due to the fact that they can get ugly, even by Atum-Coma's standards.

**Holiday: Halloween**

**Info:** While all the species in Atum-Coma each have their own holidays, there are a few that are recognized by all, the most revered of which is the one made for creatures of the night, Halloween. On this night, the power of the Dark and of the Light goes wild and the residents reflect that state. Many special events are held on Halloween, such as rites of passage, special agreements, and marriage proposals are just some of what happens. During Halloween, the entire city is one massive celebration with each district and species celebrating in their own way. For example, those in Ice Blight will have a massive winter festival, those in Makai with stage a lavish ball, those in the Wilds with have a massive hunt, and those in Clockworks will spends the night showing off their latest discoveries and inventions followed by fireworks. More often than not, residents will wander from district to district, taking in the festivities of all of them. Common things found throughout all the districts are jack-o-lanterns, treats, and tricks. It is important to note that on this night only a complete and total idiot would dare attack Atum-Coma due to this being such a revered holiday. More than once, spies have tried to enter the city, thinking the security would be lax on such a festive holiday. No one's still quite sure what happened to them; all that is known is that it involved Sparks and a lot of coffee. Since even residents find this holiday exciting, weird, and strange, you can imagine what would happen to an outsider. **WARNING:** Watch out for Naruto Talbain, the kitsune, as he becomes merciless with his pranks on this holiday. He once turned the hair/fur/feathers of ALL the monarchs, including his mother and the Youkai Kage, bright rainbow colors for a week on this holiday. Needless to say, it has made him infamous on Halloween.

**CITY QUIRKS/CUSTOMS**

This city, as many would guess, contains its fair share of quirks and customs. Most are related to specific species or types while there are a few that are relative to all in Nexus. The following is a few of the more general ones.

**Clothes:** In general the only ones allowed to go without clothes are the more animalistic or inhuman darkstalkers such as catwomen, werewolves, spirit bees, and other such creatures where clothes would be impractical due to their shifting abilities and the fact that their already covered in fur, keeping them decent in most people's eyes. Thus technically, they can walk around naked and no one cares. Same thing for aquatic, insect, and plant type darkstalkers. If they do wear clothes, they're usually enchanted level clothes that automatically shift as the user does. Outside of Nexus they'll wear clothes to appease people, but once inside Nexus borders, they'll strip saying that clothes are uncomfortable to them. In terms of fashion, that varies greatly from district to district, thus making it so you could theoretically wear whatever you want and no one would care.

**Sexuality:** While some areas frown upon anything other than heterosexual relationships, in Nexus, like many things, it doesn't matter due to all the different species that exist. Since with some species it's hard to tell the difference between the male and the female, like with spirit bees or netherleafs, most people don't mind if they see two of the same sex together in an intimate way. For some species such as succubae, this was never an issue. However, instead of sexuality, some people have a problem with species interbreeding and the creation of hybrids. While allowed and tolerated in most cases, such as with the monarchs, it is generally frowned upon by the older generations. Some have even been disowned by dating/marrying outside their species, but this rarely happens. One of the few things in Nexus that is similar to everywhere else is what allowed in be done in public. Public displays of affection are fine, but sex is only allowed behind closed doors. Other than that, things can get really kinky in Atum-Coma, the stories Morrigan Maximof could tell you would make Icha-Icha Paradise look like a children's book.

**Food:** For those just arriving in Nexus, every type of food imaginable, and then some, is available. Dishes ranging from all over are available if you know where to look. Each district tends to have its own style of cuisine. The Wilds for example, use a good number of spices in their food due to having so many readily available as well as a good amount of meat in their dishes, which are all Western American styled. As a result, barbeque in the Wilds is highly sought after, though you might loose your hand if you try to take away from one of your residents. Other examples include the Below's wonderful seafood, Tirana's spicy Arabian style dishes, and Makai's highly refined French style food. Please keep in mind that while most food is styled similarly to human food, it does contain things not normally found such as mimmoths, meat from both demonic and angelic creatures, even human (usually humans who have earned a "worse than death" punishment by Nexus laws), and unusual spices found all over Nexus.

**BONUS: Top 10 causes of death in Atum-Coma (In no specific order)**

Going into the Wilds without a guide or at least a map

Volunteering for a Spark's experiments (bad idea)

Saying you're a vegetarian in front of a netherleaf (another bad idea)

Trying to outlast an incubus or succubus in sex (interesting way to go)

Random explosion (doesn't matter the cause)

Being overfed on by a darkstalker

Random monster/creature (non-sentient kind)

Breaking a law severely enough

Random fights

Any sort of bigotry towards the general populace (this happens often to those visiting from someplace else and can't keep their traps shut)


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 23: Invitation to the Charm of Darkness

The next day after the encounter with the creature that was living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of the coleslaw, all the Nexus teams were visibly anxious as they watched the sun set lower and lower. During the day they had all helped with cleanup from the creature, mostly to make sure it didn't start up again. Now that it was evening, they had all gathered on the Dark Blade to watch the sunset. High above, just outside of Konoha's city limits was a massive dark cloud that just sat there, as if waiting for something. On the cliff side, various officials and teams were also waiting, curious as to what was going to happen. The Nexus teachers had mentioned that the officials from Atum-Coma would be appearing at sunset. All the teams stood on the deck with Amethyst holding a strange pocket watch. Finally the moment came when the light and the dark were perfectly balanced and the colors of twilight appeared. Amethyst smiled. "Show time."

Everyone watched as the mysterious storm cloud erupted and out came the large ship anyone had ever seen, on land, sea, or air. Its massive black sails proudly displaying the symbol for Nexus as its shadow seemed to eclipse the sun over Konoha. Everyone stared in awe. If the Dark Blade could be considered a large ship, this one was fucking huge! Dark colored wood, black sails proudly bearing the symbol of Atum-Coma, the city hidden in the Nexus. All around the ship, clouds seemed to conjugate, dimming what little light there was and creating an aura of blackest night. Below, people stopped dead in the streets to stare as its shadow passed over them. When the ship drew closer, people actually got a good look at its occupants … and paled. Monsters, creatures, beings only found in tales of fantasy, science fiction, or horror filled the ship's deck. All around the ship flew various creatures, some like birds, others like insects, and some that couldn't be identified. For the first time, all those watching realized that the rumors of Atum-Coma were true and the residents of that frightening place were coming here. The crowds watched as multiple hatches opened up on the ship, revealing large, strange-looking, metal spears with claw-like ends. Two of the spears shot out, connected to large chains, and struck the mountain side before seemingly latching onto it. Two more anchor spears shot out from the rear, hitting the streets below and gripping them with their metal claws. The chains moved and retracted, bringing the bow of the massive ship closer to the mountain, right next to the Dark Blade. Once it was close enough, a large door opened in the front and four more spears shot out, though much smaller then the anchor spears. Like the Dark Blade, they created a wide rope bridge between the land and the ship. Beyond the door there was only darkness as everyone waited while holding their breath in anticipation.

The first to come out was a tall man with dark tan skin, dressed in yellow robes with blue trim. Around his neck were some gold bands and white marks on his face. The most distinguishing characteristics of the man were his large Kage hat, the same color as the robes he wore, the large string of beads draped around his chest, and a massive black sword on his back with a curved end that almost looked like a demon's face. The man held an air of certainty and respect, someone who was definitely a type of authority and would not abuse it. Right behind him was a tall woman with long blond hair, dressed in black pirate clothes with a large hat and a strip of cloth over her right eye. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was the captain of the massive ship. The next to exit were two couples. The first was a large man in formal western clothes with a cape with blood red hair and faintly glowing eyes. Next to him was a drop-dead gorgeous woman with long sea-green hair and hypnotic eyes. She wore a tight fitting purple kimono that left NOTHING to the imagination. All the men watching her would be drooling if it weren't for the fact that she had two large bat wings sticking out of her lower back with a smaller pair coming out of her head. The other couple was far less human then the first. The woman looked like she was part cat, white fur, long cat tail, cat ears, green slit eyes, and a large mane of blue hair. She was dressed in a formal kimono and looked uncomfortable in it. The man she was with looked like a humanoid wolf, with dark blue fur with patches of white around his neck, muzzle, claws, and feet. He wore an outfit similar to that of an Anbu, though it didn't cover his whole body, leaving his claws and feet. He had a serious look on his face, despite it being a wolf's face.

More people followed, most of which looked more human, though dressed oddly, and all held an air that was definitely inhuman. All of the officials from other countries stared at the Nexus officials, though in Hiashi's case he glared at the pirate that he was sure was Ruby Heart. She just grinned back at him, knowing that she had something that he wanted and was enjoying that fact like any good pirate would. The Youkai Kage bowed politely to the Hokage. "Greeting Lord Hokage, I am Donovan Blaine, the Youkai Kage of Atum-Coma, the city hidden in the Nexus. We are honored that you agreed to the alliance with us and allowing us to be present at the Chunin exams," he said formally and with a large amount of respect.

Sarutobi nodded back with equal respect. "We're honored to have you here Lord Youkai Kage. If you don't mind me asking; what are you?" he said simply but with true curiosity.

Donovan just chuckled, as did the other officials from Nexus. "I am what you would call a dhampir, a half vampire. Demitri Maximof here is a full vampire, his wife Morrigan a succubus, Jon Talbain a werewolf, his wife Felicia a catwoman, Shinara an angel," a few of Nexus Genin snickered to themselves on that one, "E-Bee Alpha and E-Bee Beta, both spirit bees, Ms. Readman who is a demon, Agatha and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, Sparks of the highest caliber, and Alice and Admiral Ruby Heart who are both human, as far as we know anyway." The other officials from the Leaf and other countries nodded, all of them watching the inhuman beings carefully. Donovan may have been a monk and a hunter, but he was no fool in terms of politics. He had chosen the monarchs and officials who were most human in appearance in order to make things go more smoothly as well as to help those in Leaf get used to the idea of darkstalkers. However, there had been no getting by the spirit bees. They really wanted to start up a second hive in the Leaf, hence why E-Bee Alpha, the original from the Lost Zone, was here with her daughter E-Bee Beta. Most of the … less subtle darkstalkers had agreed to stay on the ship and enter the Leaf village slowly so as not to shock the normal people senseless.

The humans were all looking at the darkstalkers with a wide variety of reactions. The Aburame clan head stared at the two spirit bees who were hovering just in the front of them, exact copies of each other with the only difference being that Beta was slightly smaller then Alpha. He knew how insects thought and he could see that these bees wanted to stay. Shibi could also tell that they had noticed him and his son and were interested. They would have to be careful in dealing with these spirit bees. Tsume Inuzuka looked on at the werewolf in awe. Her clan had strived to work with hunter animals for generations, to try and take on their abilities and this … man had achieved what seemed to be the pinnacle of that. Of course, the fact that he was married to a cat was odd as well as interesting. She smirked to herself, knowing Kiba would have a fit when he learned of this, considering his dislike of cats. Inoichi stared at the woman named Alice who just stood there with a twisted grin. His clan was experts on the mind and how it operated and judging from the look on that woman's face, she was completely insane. He'd have to watch out for her, for everyone's sakes. Danzo looked at the darkstalkers in awe, already trying to come up with ways to gain them as tools for ROOT. All and all, this group was far more dangerous then anyone realized.

The stare fest ended when Hsien-Ko spoke up. She, like all the other Nexus teams, was still in her human form and she had about had enough. "Hey Donovan, can we drop these disguises now? I'm starting to get a cramp," she complained as the Nexus students all snickered while everyone else was curious. The Youkai Kage just chuckled and nodded, much to the relief of them all. Verity-Y moaned softly as the trappings of humanity shed away to reveal her true plant nature. Jack Smith's body shimmered and became entirely black with a strange blue trim. Mia (AKA Ria) dropped her facade, revealing her true feline nature. She went to all fours and stretched in typical cat fashion while her sister remained in cat form as a surprise for later. Axel's body erupted in a small pillar of light as his flesh seemed to warp, revealing him to be the zombie with a skull like face, pale blue skin, and clawed hands and feet. He cackled as he twisted his head 360 degrees, cracking it as he did and enjoying the sickened looks of a few of those nearby. Anko followed suit, dropping her disguise and revealing her half-naga form, much to the surprise of all the Leaf ninja. Shiva enthusiastically revealed herself, her wings all flaring out to their full size as she worked the stiffness out of them. Naruto's form shifted in an instant, his tails, fox ears, fangs, and fur all snapping into place, causing many of the older Leaf representatives to shudder at the sight of his true form, thoughts of Kyuubi running through their heads. Finally, Hsien-Ko herself dropped her human form, revealing the Kuang-shi from years ago. "Oh yeah that feels much better," she exclaimed much to amusement of her sister. Kakashi's eye widened for a moment but remained silent.

However, one of the civilian council members from the Leaf did not. "YOU! You're the one who cause that fire years ago! I saw you!" the merchant cried out. The fat woman was one of the few merchant representatives on the council who had suffered quite a loss due to that fire. Needless to say, she was ticked that the "culprit" was never captured.

Hsien-Ko wasn't bothered at all. "That was an accident I was on a mission and it got a little out of hand, so sue me," she said dismissively.

"I won't sue you, I'll have you executed!" the merchant hollered causing everyone else to wince.

Hsien-Ko just laughed. "Executed? Lady, I've been dead for the past few hundred years, I hunted monsters for a living (so to speak), and I have diplomatic immunity. Normal means of death do not apply. So you can just bite my blue, undead ass," she said flippantly as she started walking on board the ship. Mei-Ling sighed and followed, wanting to have some tea from home and to keep an eye on her sister.

All the Leaf teams were stunned. Sakura turned to the nearest Nexus ninja which just happened to be Naruto. "Is it true what she just said?" the pink-haired girl asked, ignoring the fact that she was talking to a fox boy. An undead, demon hunting sensei, which was over several hundred years old? Was it even possible?

He nodded and spoke in a dead serious tone, "Yep, it is completely true." He then flashed his trademark foxy grin. "Her ass is blue, she's a big blueberry" he said snickering only to be hit in the head a moment later by a small metal weight thrown by an irate Hsien-Ko muttering something about stupid foxes. He and the rest of those from Nexus just snickered along with his mother, his father shaking his head though he too was smiling. Everyone else watched with curious interest. They were expecting these beings to act like monsters and instead they acted like … well, like them. Needless to say, many of their preconceived notions of Nexus had just been blown out of the water by that small display.

Hours later, Naruto and his group were all sitting at Ichiraku dining. It was an odd sight to see inhuman creatures sitting down for ramen in the middle of the night. They were soon joined a by a few other darkstalkers who had come on the Storm Breaker for the Chunin exams. Interestingly enough, Iruka had also come back on the Storm Breaker with them and had somehow warmed up to Lucy, or she to him, no one was quite sure when that happened. Needless to say, Naruto wouldn't stop teasing him about it the whole time, much to the human's embarrassment and the catwoman's annoyance/amusement. At the moment, they were discussing the training they had done so far and the individual training they were going to do for the upcoming tournament. Shiva was more than likely going to train with her aunt Lillith while her mother and father were in the talks. Anita would be training with Mei-Ling in spell control and stamina since she had plenty of energy, but physically was the same as a (relatively speaking) normal human. Hsien-Ko was planning to train Naruto in control as well as give him a few long range techniques since most of his attacks that he learned from his parents were close combat. Many of the other Nexus Genin was also planning to get individual training from either their parents or their teachers. Naruto slurped down his sixteenth bowl of beef ramen. "So what do you have planned blueberry?" he asked as he downed another bowl.

Hsien-Ko resisted the urge to smack her student, knowing it wouldn't do any good. "Well for starters, I'm gonna show you some jutsu in other elements besides wind and fire. You need more variety and longer range. So to that end, we'll be heading to the nearest source of water to practice," she stated, silently enjoying his groan at the thought of practicing water jutsu, especially with him being a fire type darkstalker. The only good thing was that the nearest large source of water was Konoha Hot Springs. Hot water was much easier for fire types to deal with than ice cold water, though he knew they'd be getting to that later.

Iruka absently nodded, remembering what he had learned in Nexus about darkstalker types and about Nexus's history. He was surprised to find out that Naruto had been a key player in saving all those people. After his initial shock of the place, he had found that despite its eccentric (VERY big understatement) nature, Atum-Coma wasn't completely different from Konoha. It seemed that he had also made a good impression on the people there, being one of the first outsiders allowed into the city that didn't have his or her mind wiped. "So do you plan to do any special training to go up against Sasuke?" he asked as he ate.

Hsien-Ko shook her head. "Not really. I mostly won't because I have no clue how that Sharingan thing of his works. That and Alice asked me not to. She wants to see how a bloodline like that will stand up to a darkstalker, and you do not want to know what happens to those who cross her," the Kuang-shi said with a slight shiver as images of Nexus Asylum, aptly nicknamed Alice's Asylum, flashed through her head. The others of Nexus also shivered, none of them going near the place if they could help it. "Speaking of Alice, what happened to Yomiko? I haven't seen her since they got here."

Mei-Ling just chuckled. "What do you think happened? She made a bee-line for the nearest Konoha bookstore and nearly bought them out. They had to call in Victor to move all of her books to the ship. She did the same with several bookstores before they kicked her out. Then she went to the Konoha library and has been there ever since. They have yet to pry her out of there or even get her attention. You know how she gets once she starts reading," Mei-Ling said simply to which all of them nodded, familiar with the librarian's quirks. "We may have to tow her out using one of the ships," she deadpanned as she sipped her tea. The scary part was that was a very likely outcome.

On the other side of the village, Amethyst stood in front of the Hyuuga compound with Kir on her shoulder, Sharkey on her back, and a duffel bag full of her things in her hand. After her mother yelled at her for having a creature living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the ketchup, and to the left of coleslaw, and revealing her heritage, Ruby had calmed down and asked her what she wanted. "To at least get to know my father and blood family before I make any kind of decision," she had replied. Now she wasn't so sure, but she had committed to this. The girl hesitantly knocked on the door. A few tense moments later it was opened by a Branch member. He stared at her blinking for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

Kir got annoyed by the silence and decided to speak up. "Hey, you going to let us in or what?" the bird said indignantly, snapping both of them out of their trance. The Branch member just nodded and led them into the compound. He led them to their room and went to inform Hiashi of their arrival. Amethyst set her bag on the bed, looking around at the room that should have been hers all this time. It was bare and rather simple. Kir noticed her solemn look and didn't like it one bit. "Hey you okay?"

Amethyst said nothing as she walked over to the nightstand next to the bed. On it was a picture of herself as a child with both her original parents. 'Mum. That's my mum,' she said as she gazed at the woman in the photo holding a young girl that she recognized as herself. It was so hard to remember her time here before becoming a pirate, before Nexus, before Ruby. She shook herself out of her daze when she realized Kir had asked her a question. "I'm fine. It's just a bit strange is all," she said softly.

Kir snorted, "Coming from you, that's really saying something." Amy just smiled at his commentary. She then took off her cloak and hat, setting them on the dresser. As she did, the door slid open to reveal a visitor. The pirate was surprised to see not the Hyuuga clan head as she feared/hoped, but a young Hyuuga girl who had a similar appearance to her own. Kir immediately got hearts in his eyes before flying over and landing on her shoulder. "Hey baby, what's shaking?" he asked smoothly, only to be ignored as the newcomer stared at the pirate. It was then the bird began looking back and forth between the two, noticing the strange resemblance other than the fact that they had the same hair color and eyes like the rest of the Hyuugas.

There was a deafening silence as the two locked pale lavender eyes before the younger girl spoke in a soft yet disbelieving voice. "Sister?"

**DARK TOME****: Time Management in Nexus and Atum-Coma**

**Info:** With the people of Nexus being mostly if not all nocturnal in nature, it not surprising, that things in Atum-Coma tend to calm down during daylight hours. Basically, daytime is to Nexus what nighttime is to everywhere else, though that is not entirely accurate. During the day, most areas of Atum-Coma are rather quiet with only a few people here and there on the streets, though this does vary from district to district. For example, the activity in Clockworks tends to stay the same twenty-four hours a day whereas the action in Makai varies greatly to the point that during the day, it practically becomes a ghost town, figuratively speaking, and literally speaking at night. This comes from the fact that many darkstalker species tend to sleep during the day. It's not that uncommon to find the odd creature asleep somewhere in the city. Many catwomen tend to find a nice sunny spot or niche to sleep, in either of their forms.

This reversal of schedules is quite profound and shows up in many aspects of Nexus. One of these is the fact that they have roosters that crow at both sundown and sun up, much to the annoyance of some. Another way this shows up is in the phrases of the people from Nexus. Instead of high noon, they say "high moon", referring to midnight when the moon is at its highest. It's the same thing with after moon/afternoon and early evening/early morning. One thing that stays the same is AM and PM, though their meanings are basically switched, with 3 PM in Nexus being the equivalent of 3 AM everywhere else.

Another important thing to note is that different districts treat time differently. Clockworks for example, follows exact schedules down to the minute just like, if you'll pardon the pun, clockwork. On the flip side, the Wilds treat time in a more relaxed manner and are not so tight assed about it. However, those in the Wilds are very concerned with the seasons and the day of the month due to certain species such as the netherleafs and werewolves respectively. This also comes into play for when certain bestial type darkstalkers go into heat. When this happens, people know to either get out of the way or prepare for one wild ass night(s). The city tends to be most active on full moons for various reasons and least active on new moons. The summer and winter solstices are extremely important for various species. So if you're in Nexus, check the calendar carefully.

AN: For those wondering, the title of this chapter is the name of the opening song of the Darkstalkers Anime and I thought it fitting for their big entrance into Konoha.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 24: Connections

"Sister?"

Amethyst stared back at the young girl who had said the word. It took her a few moments to process what had been said. Sister. This girl was Hinata's … was Amethyst's … was HER sister. Kir looked back and forth between the two from his perch on a nearby nightstand, for once keeping his big beak shut. After a little silent contemplation, Amethyst answered. "Aye, I … suppose I am," she said softly while still trying to decide what to do. Even after the time she spent in Nexus, finding out you have a younger sister you never knew about was still weird. 'What would mum do?' she thought before deciding, 'Ah the hell with it.' She walked forward and thrust her out her hand with a large smile on her face. "Nice to meet'cha, me name's Amethyst Heart, formally Hinata Hyuuga, but you can call me Amy, every one else does. These here are my shipmates Kir and Sharkey," she said motioning to the bird and sword on her back respectively.

Hanabi stood stunned for a moment at the gesture, but then reciprocated, glad for the break in the tension. When father had informed her of her long lost sister being found, she wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, she had always wanted a sibling, someone to share secrets with and be close too since her mother was long gone and the rest of the Hyuuga family was so cold and strict, especially her father. On the other hand, her older sister may threaten her position within the clan as heiress and subsequently have her branded with the Cage Seal. However, all such thoughts were disrupted when she learned that her older sister had grown up in the most infamous of places, Nexus, as a sky pirate. In the end, she had decided that it wouldn't hurt to at least try to get to know her sister before making any judgment and it seemed Hinata had decided the same. "It is an honor to meet you. I am Hanabi Hyuuga and I must say, it was a shock to learn that my sister was alive after all this time," Hanabi stated formally, her Hyuuga breeding showing through.

Amy just laughed, "I'll bet. So, how about ya give me a tour of this place? I'd like to see what I've missed and to get to know me baby sister a bit better." She wrapped an arm around the younger girl, surprising her with her forwardness.

Kir grinned and took his normal perch on Amy's shoulder. "Yeah, let's scope this place out. I wanna see if the other Hyuuga ladies are as fine as this little chika," he said motioning to Hanabi who blushed at the comment despite her face being a mask of calm.

Amethyst scowled at the bird. "Watch it ya bilge rat, that's me sister you're talking about," the pirate snarled.

The bird turned to the younger girl placing his wings over his chest and speaking in a sympathetic tone. "I feel for you my dear," he said dramatically, causing Amethyst to scowl and Sharkey to laugh. Hanabi watched the exchange curiously. Things were going to be interesting.

Hiashi watched his two daughters interact, pleased that they seemed to be getting along despite the fact that they had only just met. While the Elders of the Hyuuga clan had initially objected to bringing the pirate into contact with Hanabi, they were swayed by the fact that the Byakugan could potentially fall into the hands of their enemies. Another reason is because they would be able to learn more about those in Nexus through Hinata far better than they could through spies simply because she could get in while spies could not. There were also personal reasons for inviting the girl into the clan. Hiashi wanted his daughter back, plain and simple. He could still remember a little pale-eyed girl clutching to his pant leg for protection with her mother giggling at the girl's shyness. Now he hardly recognized her in her pirate garb with the bird and the strange sword, laughing and talking without any fear whatsoever. The Hyuuga clan head sighed. 'I will just have to take things slowly and see where they lead,' he thought as he watched Hinata, no … Amethyst, wrap her arm around her young sibling, laughing at a dirty joke of some sort, if Hanabi's blush and discomfort were anything to go by.

Naruto and Hsien-Ko stood at the local hot springs. The Kuang-shi watched as her kitsune student practice again and again to do the _Water Dragon Jutsu_. The reason they were working on this one instead of a less chakra intensive jutsu was simply because of Naruto's massive reserves. Because it was hard enough for a fire type darkstalker to learn water attacks and thus required at least double the chakra control a normal human would need, the less control needed the better and because chakra intensive jutsus required less control, it was perfect to start Naruto out on. So far the kitsune boy was able to get the hand seals but he couldn't get the dragon to form correctly, even with the water being as hot was it was and thus easier for him to control. The undead sensei frowned. 'What is he doing wrong? Arg! I hate this! I know jack squat about water techniques and even less about jutsus. How am I supposed to help when I don't have a clue what to do? All I know is what was written in that scroll Ruby picked up in one of her raids and it wasn't very clear with details,' she grumbled to herself. She then spoke to Naruto who was standing on the water slowly going through the hand seals again to make sure he got them right. "Hey Naruto, lets take a break."

The fox boy nodded and walked back to his teacher, growing sick of going through the same thing over and over. The two sat on a nearby bench, Naruto gulping down a few mimmoths he had brought with him from the Storm Breaker while Hsien-Ko drank some blood from a thermos. Both were going over the jutsu in their heads, trying to figure out why the dragon wouldn't form. Naruto had sufficient control and more than enough chakra, so what was the problem? The two were broken out of their thoughts by the sound of someone giggling like an idiot. The two darkstalkers turned to see a man with long white hair and was dressed like a kabuki actor. Naruto frowned, "Hey you, what do you think you're doing?"

The white haired man frowned and turned to the source of the annoying voice and was surprised to see a young black clothed, red furred fox boy with two tails and a blue skinned woman in a weird purple kimono with huge sleeves. "Get lost kid, I've got research to do," he said with a giggle as he returned to peeping on the girls in onsen.

Hsien-Ko frowned at the pervert. While sexuality was pretty open in Nexus, there were some things you just did not do out of common respect and dignity and peeping on girls was one of them. She got up and approached the man. "Hey, get lost you pervert before I chop you into bits," she said as her arms merged with her sleeves, taking control of them. Even without her sister here to help control her powers, Hsien-Ko was still someone not to be messed with.

Jiraiya frowned. All he wanted was to do some research but he kept getting interrupted, first by his spy network, then by Sarutobi, and now by this weird blue lady and her fuzzy student. He sighed and did a quick summoning jutsu, summoning a medium sized toad right under him. Both the woman and kid blinked in confusion until the toad lashed its tongue out at the blue woman in order to knock her out. Normally, Jiraiya wouldn't do this, but he didn't want to deal with any pissed off women since he had just arrived in Konoha. However, to the Toad Sannin's surprise, the woman easily sidestepped the attack, allowing the tongue to fly past her, and then grabbing it with one of her massive metal claws and holding it in place. Jiraiya's eyes widened as the woman stood ready to fight, holding the tongue in place with what seemed minimal effort. 'Well, that's never happened before. Guess the rumors about Nexus are true then. No normal person could hold that tongue in place like that,' the white-haired pervert thought as the blue-skinned woman stood with one claw holding the toad tongue and the other poised to strike.

Hsien-Ko just watched the white haired man carefully. She knew summoning was an advanced skill and if her information was correct, this man was someone to watch out for, even if he did seem like an idiot. "So pervert, make your move," she said carefully, her claw ready for anything.

Jiraiya frowned. "Do you have any idea who I am? I'm not just a pervert." He then struck a pose on top of the toad who really wanted to have his tongue released. Metal did not taste good, regardless of species. "I am Jiraiya of the legendary three, the great toad hermit! Super pervert and writer of Icha-Icha Paradise!" he exclaimed while holding one of his books and grinning like a madman.

Hsien-Ko and Naruto just blinked blankly at him again. Naruto was silently wondering if this guy was an escaped patient from Alice's asylum while Hsien-Ko was wondering if he was one of Agatha's lost experiments. The Kuang-shi then frowned. "I don't care who you are. Give me a good reason not to blow the whistle on you," she threatened as she released the tongue, much to the toad's relief just before it poofed away.

Jiraiya looked between the two before getting a good look at Naruto. He had heard the Kyuubi kid had become a darkstalker and was now part of Nexus and here for the exams. If that was true there was no telling what they had done to the seal to cause this transformation. If he could examine the seal and the boy then he would be able to determine if anyone should be concerned or not. "How about a deal instead? I'll help you train the brat there. After all, I was trained by Sarutobi and trained the Fourth Hokage," he boasted proudly.

Hsien-Ko lowered her claws a little. While she didn't care for perverts, this guy knew much more about jutsus than she did, so having him help Naruto with her to supervise just might be what the kitsune needed. "All right. You help train him and in return we won't turn you in for peeping," she summarized, thinking that was all to it.

Jiraiya was suddenly right next to her grinning like the pervert he was. "And you and I go on a date."

WHAM! Jiraiya was now kissing the concrete. "FORGET IT! I am not going on a date with a pervert like you. Come on Naruto, let's get out of here, we don't need this bum," she said angrily as she stomped away. 'And I thought Raptor was bad, ugh!'

Naruto looked between the two and then spoke up, "Wait, I have an idea." He then ran to the white-haired man as he lifted himself out of the hole in the pavement. He whispered to the man so Hsien-Ko couldn't hear them from where she was. "Hey Ero-Sennin, I got a deal for ya. You help train me and I'll set you up with a cute little librarian who has a thing for famous authors," he said suggestively while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively while flashing a picture of whom he was talking about.

Jiraiya just grinned perversely, ignoring the nickname, as he saw the cute girl with black hair and glasses. "You got a deal kid! We'll start training tomorrow morning," he announced before jumping away, leaving a pleased kitsune and confused Kuang-shi.

Hsien-Ko just looked at her student in confusion. "What did you just do?"

The fox just grinned. "In return for training, I promised him I'd get him a date," he explained.

The Kuang-shi just looked annoyed with her eyebrow twitching. "Really? And who was it you promised to him?" she said dangerously indicating that it had better not be her or her sister.

"Ms. Readman," he replied simply.

Hsien-Ko immediately exchanged her look of controlled anger for one of surprise. She stared at her student in admiration and approval. "You set up the author of a series of sex books on a date with an energetic literature demon." He nodded. "You do know what she's going to do to him, don't you?" He nodded again. "You're an evil, evil little fox aren't you?" she asked rhetorically while grinning.

"That's what my mom says," he said simply while grinning like he had just completed the best prank ever, which essentially he did.

Sarutobi walked outside on the roof of the Kage Tower. The meetings with those from Nexus hadn't taken quite as long as he thought they would. The monarchs and the Youkai Kage were very respectful and they had already settled agreements for trade routes and other such agreements, though a few of them were weird. For one, the Leaf had agreed to have a hive of spirit bees settle here. At first there had been some … reluctance until it was explained that even if the two sides went to war, the spirit bees here in the Leaf would remain loyal to the Leaf and not betray them. This was confirmed by the Aburame clan head, being an expert on insects. The hive was scheduled to begin construction after the Chunin exams. The location would be on the side of the Hokage Mountain, to the left of the faces. There was also talk of building a train station here to help connect the two countries. When asked why a train was needed when they had ships that could fly, he found out that even the wonders of Nexus had their problems. Sky ships were very susceptible to outside energy and air ships were ill suited to carry cargo as they were much slower. Both types were also easily affect by bad weather, for obvious reasons, thus a train on the ground was the best substitute. Then there was the fact that so many in Atum-Coma wanted to relocate to Konoha due to the slight over population. While Sarutobi had no doubts that said creatures would be able to survive anywhere, they still had very low numbers in comparison to the rest of the world. If they weren't careful they could cause a genocidal hunt on themselves, hence why they were taking things slow. He was broken out of his thoughts as two of the monarchs came up behind him, the werewolf and the catwoman.

"Nice view," Felicia commented as she and Jon stood next to the old man.

The old man nodded, taking a puff from his pipe. "Indeed, you can view the whole village from here," he commented.

"We wanted to thank you for looking after Naruto as much as you did," Jon spoke calmly. "You were one of the few people who did not see him as a monster. For that you have our respect," he said sincerely. For Jon, he had met very few humans who had not grown up around darkstalkers who were able to accept them so easily. For the longest time he thought all humans were like that, especially after meeting Bulleta. However, Felicia was able to change his mind whether he liked it or not.

Sarutobi just smiled. "I only saw what was there; a boy who was given a burden no one should have to deal with alone. However, it seems that I had not done enough. I had truly thought I had failed that night," he said, knowing that they knew what he was referring to. He still had nightmares of that night, seeing Naruto in his mind being chased and tortured by the people he worked so hard to protect. Despite learning that Naruto was alive and well, he still worried about the boy.

Felicia just smiled at the man. "We know. Naruto spoke highly of you and we see why. Besides, anyone who could keep him out of trouble definitely deserves respect," she said grinning Cheshire style.

Far away on the other side of the village, a pale-faced man with long, black hair, and yellow, slit eyes was waiting for his subordinate. A young man with white hair and glasses appeared next to him. The snake like man spoke first. "Is everything ready Kabuto?" he asked calmly.

"All is ready Lord Orochimaru," the glasses wearing medic ninja said. "However, it seems we have a small hitch in our plans. The Seal of Heaven you placed on Sasuke has been unable to fully form due to intervention by one of the Nexus teams."

Orochimaru frowned for a moment, not understanding how that could be possible. His seal formed instantly and if the person survived, which he was positive that Sasuke would have, they would gain power and he would gain control over them. He shook his head. "I will deal with that after the invasion. Are all the forces prepared?" he asked.

Kabuto nodded. "All the forces of Sound and Sand are ready. The forces belonging to Bishamon are also ready, though I still say it's a bad idea to ally ourselves with those … things," he spoke the last word in obvious disgust and distrust. He had seen some sadistic and bloodthirsty beings, but Bishamon took it to a level that even Orochimaru had a hard time stomaching sometimes. However, their alliance was a mutual one. The snake sannin got to destroy Konoha and secrets to various forms of power while the demon samurai got what he wanted; unmitigated and unrestrained bloodshed.

Orochimaru just grinned. "They may be unruly, but they have their uses. Inform our allies to be ready. We attack during the tournament at my signal." Kabuto nodded and disappeared, leaving the snake-like man to his thoughts.

**DARK TOME:**** Death & Undeath**

**Info** Death means far more than the simple ending of life. For many, death is just the passing from one realm of existence to another. For others, it is simply becoming a new form or body. For darkstalkers, users of the Dark, and users of the Light, death means much more.

In general, when a darkstalker, Light, or Dark user dies, death judges them on their actions just as anyone else and not what energy they use. It has been known that a Light user can be sent to damnation while a Dark user can be sent to paradise. When one of these types of people dies; they release large amounts of energy based on who and what they are. Even normal people give off this energy, though it's in much smaller amounts. This energy is sometimes gathered by spell users for various purposes. Most of the time, this energy simply dissipates into the area as the spirit moves on to the next life. What that next life is varies from creature to creature based on power, deeds, and beliefs.

Obviously, there are many special or unusual cases. For example, a soul with multiple personalities or forms, such as Morrigan and Lillith Aensland for example, are all judged as one being rather than multiple as they all originate/are connected to one soul. In that instance, the actions of all the personalities/forms would be lopped together and judged as one being. On the flip side of that, if two beings are fused or bonded together, such as in the case of Naruto Talbain and Kyuubi, it is the dominate being by whom they are judged and if they're equal then all their experiences are judged based on percentage in relation to their life. If they can be separated or are separate enough, then they are judged separately. Another important type of case is those in which the being in question is reborn/ reincarnated and or lost their memory permanently. In those cases, they are judged on their deeds from the furthest back they can remember to present as it is illogical to punish someone for something they honestly do not know about. For undead creatures that are killed (permanently this time) their unlife experiences are added to their life experiences and thus they are all judged together. As you may have guessed, there are also difficult cases such as those involving creatures of unnatural birth/creation like constructs or those whose souls aren't clearly defined such as plant based creatures like netherleafs. Those are usually decided on a case to case basis. There are also the weird cases such as those with certain types of cats, squirrels, and other creatures who have as many lives/souls as they think they can get away with, such a pain in the arse (quoted from a very disgruntled reaper). Quite frankly, Death has had, if you'll excuse the pun, a hell of time since darkstalkers have entered the world, and that's not factoring in undead creatures as well.

For the undead, the process of death is obviously different. The undead can be created at death or after death. A living creature cannot become undead without some form of death. For creatures such as zombies, ghosts, and some Kuang-shi, reanimation comes some time after death. This could come as quickly as a few seconds after death to hundreds of thousands of years after. In this form of undeath, the energy from death is usually long gone but the mind and soul of the person/being in question has not passed on for whatever reason. Through their own force of will or through outside interference, these spirits are given a corporal form and thus live off some type of energy source, which could be blood, emotions, souls, whatever that specific form is set to. For other types such as undead creatures that are created through magic or science, the energy of death is used to create the undead form. These types tend to be stronger due to the extra energy and don't need to feed on outside sources as much, if at all. Specifics vary from undead to undead, thus giving Death even more of headache. Researchers in Nexus are still trying to figure all the ins and outs of death in this new world and it may be a while before they do.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 25: Training and Reflections

Hiashi watched his two daughters spar with two branch members with interest. Since her arrival, he had started teaching Hinata … Amethyst the basics of the Gentle Fist style with Ruby supervising. He figured it was a good place to start, to teach her something she would be able to use in the near future as well as get a better idea of who she was. Ruby had agreed on the grounds that she would be able to watch as well, much to Hiashi's displeasure. While the girl obviously had the speed, flexibility, chakra, and bloodline for it, she didn't have the personality or instincts for it. Because of her upbringing as a pirate, she was much more used to using force on her enemies rather than disabling them. However, she did adapt the style to herself somewhat. Instead of using chakra through her fingers to close a person's chakra points, she focused her chakra through the points on her fist and released it upon contact. Depending on when Amethyst released the chakra, it could have one of two effects. An earlier release would cause mass external damage, similar to the super strength technique used by the Sannin Tsunade, though nowhere near as automatic or potent yet. Given the fact that she already had physical conditioning similar to Gai's student Lee, it was still a powerful technique. A later release would send a mass of chakra right into the opponent. Unlike the Gentle Fist style, which could be likened to using arrows to sharp shoot small targets, this would be like using a cannon to blast a wide area. Instead of shutting down the opponent's chakra points, it would disrupt their chakra flow severely, causing random fluctuations and even causing the chakra to backfire on the one affected.

Another thing the Hyuuga head watched was how much their styles differed. Hanabi was drilled in the traditional Gentle Fist style and thus used flexibility and speed as her main assets to both attack and defend. Her main strategy was to quickly strike her opponent to disable, as was standard for the Gentle Fist style. Amethyst on the other hand, was almost completely random. Sometimes she would attack using only punches, then switch to just kicks in a split second, and then all of sudden just simply grab her opponent's arm, turn around and slam them into the ground, hard, showing that she was much stronger than she looked. She then repeated the previous action two or three times before spinning around and launching the unfortunate branch member into the nearest wall. (AN1) The only thing that was constant was that she was constantly moving anywhere and everything, never stopping and always on the go. If the enemy stopped for whatever reason, to try and analyze a situation, to gauge her, or to start a jutsu, she'd run right up with no fear at a breakneck speed, keeping up her attack. Curious, Hiashi turned to one of the few beings who knew anything about his daughter as she currently was … her bird Kir. "Tell me, why she fights as if she's in a war zone," he asked uneasily. It was weird enough talking to those darkstalkers at the meetings, but talking to a bird who apparently transformed into a weapon was just as weird. Still, he supposed it was better than trying to ask Ruby who was on the other side of the training area, critically watching the spars.

Kir looked at the Hyuuga clan head, wondering if he should answer or not. The bird may have been a nuisance and gave Amy a bit of a headache at times, but he was fiercely loyal to her and her alone and wouldn't think twice about risking his life for her. By default, he was also extremely loyal to Ruby, who was for all intents and purposes Amy's mother. This guy was trying to become Amy's father, whether or not he would take her away from Ruby was up in the air. In the end, Kir decided to answer his question, mostly because it wasn't that important anyway. "That's because on a pirate ship, it is a war zone in battle. When one ship's crew boards another, it's chaos, and that's how Amy operates in a fight. She tends to use that special eye thing of hers to keep track of everything that goes on the ship and who to go after in a fight. She also uses it to keep her crew paranoid and in line," he snickered the last part. Hiashi nodded, trying to imagine such as thing as he watched Amethyst go after the branch member with rage-like enthusiasm.

Ruby Heart silently watched as her daughter fought, using the new technique she had made from the teachings of the Hyuuga clan head. The pirate may have seemed a little … off to some but she was no fool. She knew this man wanted Amethyst back and in all honesty she couldn't blame him for that. Still, Ruby was sure as hell not going to give up her daughter without a fight nor was she going to force the girl to stay with her either. To do so would be a very bad idea as the girl was just as stubborn as Ruby was. So to that end, she decided to let the girl decide for herself what she wanted. She was also interested in Amethyst's sister as she too would play a factor in all of this. 'I wonder how Hiashi and Hanabi would like a little visit to me ship,' she thought with a grin.

Jiraiya watched carefully as the fox boy attempt the _Water Dragon_ jutsu again. While the kid had the disadvantage of being aligned to fire and wind, he made up for it with sheer tenacity and extensive use of shadow clones. 'Kid's like his biological father, never giving up no matter what,' he thought as he remembered hearing about the Talbains from Sarutobi. In any case, the kid currently had fifty shadow clones all in what he called his were form, which looked like a large anthropomorphic fox with two tails. When he had first met the kid he had been in his normal form that was similar to his mother and had decent chakra control, though not quite as good as his human form. Naruto had finally mastered the _Water Dragon_ jutsu in his human and normal forms and was now working to perfect it in his were form, though he was still having a little trouble. He then glanced at the blue, undead woman next to him who was casually sharpening one of her many blades. 'Where she keeps all those things, I'll never know,' he thought before speaking towards Naruto. "Hey kid, take a break for a second, I need to check something," he said motioning to the boy.

Naruto nodded, dispelling the clones and walking back to the white-haired pervert. He absently shifted from his were form into his standard form, shrinking a bit and becoming more human looking. "Sure thing, Ero-Sennin, what do you need?" he said causing Jiraiya to frown at the nick name and Hsien-Ko to chuckle. The old man may have been a good teacher and great ninja, but he was still a self-proclaimed super pervert.

Jiraiya frowned at the kid for the nickname he had chosen ever since he learned of his "research". "Will you stop calling me that! Anyways kid, I'd like to have a look at the seal," he said suddenly. Naruto gave him a questioning look while Hsien-Ko stared intently at him. They all knew what seal he was referring to and both darkstalkers were wondering what the old man was up to. The fox boy did as instructed, lifting up his shirt and showing the toad sage the modified seal. Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw it. "What the hell did you do to it?" he asked speaking to the undead woman behind him. The seal was almost completely different from before. The spiral was still there but the seal script around it was arranged very differently from before. Before it had been arranged like two semi-circles with four lines extending from each, one above and one below the spiral. Now, the script was arranged much like a compass, with arrows that were opened at the tips pointing in all directions. However, it looked like it was missing two arrows, specifically the northwest and southeast arrows. Those areas had only a pair of small lines indicating that the arrows had been there along with a gap in the script. Before the toad hermit had been in the possession of the Key necessary to strengthened or weaken the seal to allow Naruto access to the Kyuubi's power. However, with this drastic change, the Key was now useless. There was also the question of how other seals would affect it now. He nodded after examining it. "Okay kid, get back to work and remember, let your chakra flow into the water, don't try to force it," he ordered. Naruto nodded and went back to work, shifting to his were form and creating a mass of clone again. Jiraiya then looked at the kuang-shi standing near him, waiting for an answer.

Hsien-Ko sighed, knowing the pervert hermit wanted an explanation as to why the seal was so altered along with why Naruto was what he now was. She sat down next to him, absently staring at her student as he tried to create a dragon out of water. "Before I explain this, you have to understand, back in the Lost Zone, things were bad. Many plants and animals were dying out; our whole ecosystem was falling apart. Then all of a sudden this kid appears with a Key of the Dark that can save us all by taking us here. The catch is, he can't use enough of the power he contained to save us without killing himself and thus damning us all," she spoke quietly, bringing up old memories.

"The Kyuubi," Jiraiya stated in understanding. The woman nodded. "So you turned him into a darkstalker so he could use the fox's power and save you all." She nodded again. "You do know they would've merged eventually," he pointed out.

She sighed. "While true, we honestly didn't have the time. With the ecosystem so screwed up, people, both darkstalkers and humans, were going mad all over. By the calculations we did, we had only a few years at most before all possible resources ran out or were unusable. Add to that people all over were going mad; quite frankly, we were all at the end of our rope. So we asked Naruto if he would be willing to become a darkstalker in order to save us all. He agreed and the rest is history."

The white haired man stood silent for a moment before speaking. "So what exactly did you do to the seal? Has he been in contact with the Kyuubi? And where did the kid get that Key thing in the first place?" he asked concerned.

Hsien-Ko sighed again. "I don't know all the details. You'd have to ask my sister or Donovan for that, but the gist is that we turned it into a type of lock that holds the excess power until Naruto is physically and mentally able to handle it. Naruto does have the capability to release it all at once as what we would call a Dark Force, but it would only last a short time and in his current state would have serious repercussions. As for being in contact with that fox or where he got the Key in the first place we're still not sure. Keys of the Dark are rare items and for one to lead from one human realm to another is unheard of. How that thing was made or where Naruto got a hold of it has been thoroughly looked into and yet we know very little. We suspect that someone from the Lost Zone ended up here and decided to create a way between the two worlds. Considering the Key was in the shape of a Kunai and was found in this world supports that idea, though how it became attuned to Kyuubi of all beings I have no clue. In regards to the fox, Naruto has spoken to it once or twice, but not often. Again we don't know much about it at all. What we do know is that there may have been far more to its attack on Konoha."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. While he knew that the Biju were intelligent, most thought them to be little more than overgrown serial killers. He had been there the night the fox had been sealed and boy had that been a sight. That thing made Manda look like a common earthworm in comparison. "Oh really?" he said skeptically.

Hsien-Ko nodded. "I may not know much about this world, but I do know darkstalkers and demons far better then many people. Demons may love battle, but they don't do things for no reason, especially creatures as powerful as Kyuubi. Something that powerful had to have existed long before your village. For it to suddenly attack for no reason makes no sense. If it had the intelligence of an animal; that means it avoided your village until something caused it to attack. If on the other hand it had the intelligence of a standard darkstalker, then again it chose to leave your village alone until something made it choose otherwise. In either scenario, the Kyuubi was provoked into attacking in some fashion. Your guess is as good as mine as to what ticked it off though." Jiraiya nodded, turning his attention back to their student as he finally got the dragon to form.

Across town one Neji Hyuuga stood practicing, wondering about his first opponent, Hinata Hyuuga or as she was currently calling herself, Amethyst Heart. He wasn't sure what to feel. When his father had been sacrificed in place of Hiashi, he had sought out someone to blame. Initially he had wanted to go after Hinata until he learned that she had gone missing, so he turned his resentment to Hanabi. If he couldn't go after the one responsible, then he'd go after the next best thing, his daughter. However, with the discovery and appearance of Hinata, he wasn't sure what to think. 'Technically she is connected to main house, but only through blood. Her upbringing is questionable but her skills are nothing to doubt,' he thought as he remembered the riot in the first exam. He had only caught glimpses of her fighting in that chaos, but what really interested him was the fact that she was able to steal all that stuff without anyone noticing. Tenten had been pissed afterwards and had wanted to use the girl as a pin cushion for every weapon she had. Still, the stealth she had was impressive. He had also seen that fight between her and that creature on her ship. 'She is far more than she seems. That pirate woman as well,' he thought as the image of Ruby Heart entered his mind. There was something about that pirate that made his nervous, though he wasn't sure what it was. The dark-haired boy shook his head, 'It doesn't matter. I will defeat her and Hanabi, proving how weak the main house is. That is my fate.'

At night, on top of one of the many buildings in Konoha, Gaara of the Desert sat in confusion, thinking about the darkstalker girl who had approached him with no fear. After learning what she and her associates truly were part of the mystery of how she knew was solved and yet it didn't explain why that girl had been so casual around him. Perhaps she didn't know what Shukaku was truly capable of. That was one possibility and yet the boy got the feeling that that wasn't the reason. 'Why? Why did she act so kind to me?' he wondered as he thought about Shiva and where she came from … Atum-Coma, the city hidden in the Nexus. According to rumors and what he had seen, Nexus used to be Wave country until it was suddenly overrun with darkstalkers, being like Shiva and her companions. An odd thought then struck the sand shinobi, if Shiva accepted him so easily, would the others of her group accept him as well? Would her city, her country accept him? It was a truly foreign thought to him, to be accepted despite or maybe because of the demon he carried within him. He then thought about the look in the darkstalker's eyes. There had been no hate like the villagers', no fear like Kankuro's, no sadness like in Temari's, just curiosity, playfulness, and something he couldn't recognize. It was very confusing to him.

The day had finally come it was time for the tournament. The stadium was packed not only with citizens from the Fire country, but from other countries as well, not the least of which was Nexus country. A number of darkstalkers had taken to the stands as well, making some humans nervous and others just really confused and curious. There were darkstalkers in seats, flying darkstalkers that had taken spots on the roof, and a few darkstalkers that were acting as concession vendors. Some netherleafs had even created their own pseudo stands on the opposite side by creating some huge trees with plenty of seating. On the upper part of the normal stadium, Anko came walking in her true form, having dropped the disguise by now. She spotted Asuma and Kurenai and sat down next to them. "Hey guys, what's up? Has it started yet?" she asked as she reached into a bag she had with her.

Kurenai looked at her friend. Though the change in appearance was disturbing at first, Anko seemed fine with it so she just tried to ignore it. "No it hasn't, we're just waiting for the crowd to settle down. What are you eating?" she asked curious.

The half-naga just smiled, showing off her fangs. "Mimmoths," she said sweetly as she pulled out a mouse-sized, wiggling, squealing mammoth and plunked it in her mouth before swallowing it whole. Both the genjutsu mistress and the chain-smoker paled at the sight. "What? They taste good and they're even better when alive 'cause they wiggle all the way down," the special Jonin said, silently amused at their paling faces. They weren't the first non-Nexus residents to start turning green at this, some people even left their seats, and ran to the nearest toilet and or trashcan when they heard and found out what mimmoths were. 'Their loss,' she supposed as she down another one with practiced ease.

"Anyway," Asuma spoke shaking off his disgust, "who do you think will win in the fourth round, Neji or Hinata? Neji's the favorite to win along with the Uchiha, but that's only the Leaf's view."

"Her name is Amethyst," Anko corrected automatically, "and to be honest, it's really split as far the Atum-Coma is concerned. Naruto, Shiva, Anita, and Amethyst are all the most common favorites, but hell if I know who's going to win this thing. As for the upcoming match, I'd place my money on Amy, but then again I am the one who trained her," she said smugly.

Kurenai just smiled, "Well, whoever wins, this should be an interesting match." The other two nodded, despite the Leaf Nin paling at the tiny screams of the mimmoths as they were unceremoniously eaten by their half-naga friend. "As for the first match I have no clue what to think. I know Tenten is a weapon specialist, but I have no idea what Verity is, in any sense of the phase," she said referring to the fact that the girl looked like a walking garden.

Anko just smiled. "She's a netherleaf, a kind of sentient plant with human level intelligence that can manipulate plants though not in the same way the First Hokage did," she explained.

Asuma chuckled. "Great, a human hedge trimmer against a weed with an attitude, this should be interesting," he said taking another puff on his cigarette.

**DARK TOME:**** Economy**

**Economy Info:** Being as complex as it is, Atum-Coma's economy does rely on a few key things. One of the biggest contributors is shipping and trade, being an island nation and having open access to the seas. The standard water shipping contracts and routes once held by Gato now belong to the Nexus council and are divided evenly based on what's being shipped and to where. Recently added to these shipping contracts is the sky fleet with shipping by either sky ship or air ship depending on what's being shipped. Each type of shipping has its own limits and security measures as mentioned in a previous entry about Sky ships and Air ships. With all these shipping contract, Atum-Coma has a very large import and export trade which has a massive range.

With practically unlimited shipping ability, Atum-Coma makes full use of it under the direction of Shinara. They are able to export an extremely wide variety of merchandise due to all the different districts. For example, the Wilds has many different types of fruits and foods not found anywhere else, one of the most popular being Spirit Bee honey. Clockworks on the other had, exports a wide number of devices and contraptions ranging from the practical to the downright outrageous. Helios and Ice-blight specialize in healing items while Tirana is well known for making quality weapons. Also, there has also been talk of setting up a railway between Atum-Coma and any allied nations. Currently it is in the planning stages but is being back heavily by Clockworks and interestingly enough the Wilds.

Another big contributor to the economy is missions taken by their ninja. Like any other ninja country, missions are requested by people, ranked, and assigned accordingly. It should be important to note that Atum-Coma tends to rank their missions a little differently then normal villages. The reason for this is simply point of view. While catching runaway experiments or rounding up dangerous dark beasts might be ranked C or even B in other villages, they are usually ranked D in Atum-Coma due to the simple fact that they are within the village. Another thing that causes Nexus to stand out is the fact that the missions they usually take tend to be on the weird side, for normal people anyway. Such missions include exorcisms, alien abductions, ancient spirits, legendary creatures, etc. Another important note is that Nexus has an extra level of missions. Normally, the levels progress from easiest/safest to most difficult/dangerous at D, C, B, A, S, and then SS. However, Nexus has the added rank of X. X Rank missions are missions that are extremely dangerous even for some or all types darkstalkers. These missions often involve something of mass importance or on an extremely wide scale. A good example of an X Ranked mission would be venturing into the Lost Zone for any reason as in its current state, the Lost Zone is a 99.99% guaranteed death trap for any darkstalker. As a result of being such a high risk, those that attempt these high of rank missions can name nearly anything as their price for completion, with a few exceptions.

AN: Well, next chapter will start the actual tournament which is going to be fun to write. Anyways, if there is anything you want me to use in a DARK TOME entry, tell me in a review and I might use it for a future chapter.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 26: Gardening, the hard way

**Round 1 - ****Verity-Y ****VS ****Tenten**

The stands stood at attention as the two fighters made there way to the arena. Both Tenten and Verity eyed each other in interest and caution. Tenten knew this girl wasn't human from her looks and the feeling she got from her. Ever since these darkstalkers had appeared, she had done some research into them, but had found little of use, especially on her opponent. The only thing she had learned was that she was a plant based darkstalker. What that meant in terms of attacks could be anything. In which case, she would have to be prepared for anything. Verity on the other hand knew this girl specialized in weapons similar to Hsien-Ko, though the netherleaf doubted she had any enchanted or higher level weapons. Still, she would not underestimate this human. The plant girl had once underestimated Leon because he was human and had ended waking up in a giant vase with other large flowers and a bow around her neck as a gift to his mother for Mothers day. She still hadn't quite lived that down. In any case, she shook her large, mushroom like head in preparation for the coming fight.

High above both Gai and Suzuka watched intently at their students. Gai knew that Tenten was one of most skilled weapon users he had ever seen and had gained that skill through hard work. However, he also knew that darkstalkers were not to be underestimated in any way if that blue-skinned woman was anything to go by. He had been sore for a week due to the damn bomb of hers. Suzuka on the other hand was confident in her student's abilities despite the terrain. While she knew Tenten was a weapon user, she also knew she had trained Verity to handle all types of situations. It also helped that she actually worked with a weapons mistress from time to time. 'Granted the girl doesn't use any weapons of anywhere near the same quality, but the idea is the same,' the swordswoman thought as she watched the match about to begin.

Hayate looked between the two girls, unsure of what to expect for this match. He had refereed his share of matches before, but none that involved inhuman beings. 'Oh well, I'll just wing it,' he thought before turning to the two. "Okay, you know the rules. You fight until one of you is unable to or gives up. No killing and when I say the match is over, you stop, got it?" Both nodded and got into fighting stances. "Begin!"

Both jumped back to get some distance from each other. Verity produced a strange yellow seed in her hand and threw it like a grenade at Tenten. The weapon user jumped away as the seed hit and instantly sprouted into thorny vines with dragon like ends that snapped at where she was. She didn't have time to study them as Verity let loose a wave of seeds, releasing many more _Serpent Snappers_ and covering a good portion of the battlefield. Even Hayate had to back away from the things. The netherleaf was hoping to with capture or corner the human; however that idea went out the window as the weapon mistress unrolled a scroll and summoned a pair of katana and started to cut the snake like vines down with disturbing efficiency as she made her way towards Verity. "Nice try, but it'll take more than these weeds to stop me!" she cried out as she came right at the plant girl.

Verity frowned at the weed comment as she watched her _Serpent Snappers_ get mowed down. They weren't moving or growing quite as fast as they normally did. The reason for that was two-fold. The first being was that she was a relatively young netherleaf, still growing and not fully mature yet. The other problem was they area they were in. It was a well-used battleground, were little if anything grew. This area would've been fine for a desert, mountain, or canyon netherleaf, but she was a jungle/rainforest netherleaf and thus was weaker in this kind of area then she would be in say a swamp, normal forest, or even a grassy area. 'Oh well, best make due with what I can,' she thought as she quickly formed a _Spike Rope_ on her left hand and lashed it at the Konoha ninja. Tenten batted the thorny whip with her katana, skidding back from the force behind it. Unlike the first plants, the rope wouldn't be easily cut and kept repairing itself. Verity was not going to let the girl get close enough to make use of those blades. If there was one thing that all plants hated, it was to be cut down.

Tenten avoided the whip as best she could while grabbing a kunai from her pouch. Taking aim, she threw the kunai and pinned the whip to the ground while at the same time going right for the netherleaf. Reacting quickly, Verity form several black petal-like leafs around her right wrist that instantly wrapped around them selves, forming into a lance with weird yellow marks on it. Tenten brought both her katana down onto the plant girl as she used the lance to block since her left hand was still pinned due to the kunai in the whip. As Tenten pressed down, she noticed that her swords were starting to smoke badly. She jumped away and glanced at her swords. There were indents in the blades with a strange substance dripping from them. 'Acid,' the black-haired girl realized as she looked at the lance to see it was dripping with the stuff. She watched as the whip broke off from the girl's hand, leaving nothing but a stump at the moment. However that changed as a large black and green claw with similar yellow marks. 'Probably has acid as well,' she thought as the claw let loose a few drops of acid, burning the ground.

The netherleaf grinned just before she shot her arm out towards the weapon, stretching easily like rubber. Tenten's eyes widened for a moment just before dodging out of the way and jumping clear of the attack. The claw merely turned and followed the weapon user as Verity stood directing it. Moving fast, she ran towards the few trees that were in the area with the claw following close behind. She weaved in and out of the trees, the _Toxic Claw_ doing the same, Verity's arm continuing to grow to race after her. 'So we're playing follow the leader huh? All right, let's play,' she thought as she began to run all around the area, staying just ahead of the claw.

Up in the stands, Orochimaru, disguised as the Kazekage sitting next to the Hokage and Youkai Kage, looked in shock at what he was seeing. When he had first heard of darkstalkers, he had thought only to be a myth or something to be studied. When he had met Bishamon and his minions, he had thought him to be little more than a psychotic samurai with weird armor and a weird bloodline. But this was something else, to actually see some of these powers in action. 'It might be worth looking into. The information I could gleam from some of their carcasses would be most interesting,' he chuckled to himself as he watched the unusual match below.

Running back and forth in between trees and from one end of the arena to another, she led it all around, double backing several time around lengths of arm, much to Verity's annoyance. Soon, Tenten ran towards the wall, getting one of her weapon scrolls ready. She slowed down a little bit and just before the claw struck, she jumped the side, causing it to ram into the wall and embedding itself. Before it could break free and continue to chase her, the weapon user threw two knives with wire strung between them, effectively pinning the claw to the wall. Verity frowned and pulled a few times, finding herself very much immobilized by her own arm … again. "Damn it, I hate it when this happens," she whined.

Tenten grinned and launched a volley of kunai at her, hoping to end the match but forgetting about the plant's other hand. The plant deflected them using her _Toxic Spear_ while still stuck in place by her own arm. The Konoha ninja frowned for a moment before bringing out two scrolls, setting them down on their ends. "Let's see you deflect this. _Twin Rising Dragons!_" she cried out as both scrolls erupted into dragon shaped smoke streams. Tenten jumped up with the eruption and from the scrolls summoned a mass amount of weapons of all different shapes and sizes. Directing them all to go at her from different angles using chakra strings, Tenten grinned in triumph. 'There's no way she'll be able to deflect all of them.' She then noticed something. 'Why is she smiling … unless,' was all she thought just before dozens of _Serpent Snappers_ erupted out of her arm that was crisscrossed all over the arena. The snappers grabbed each of the weapons and Tenten from out of the air and restrained her while redirecting the weapons. At that point, Hayate decided to end the match.

"That's enough. Winner, Verity-Y!" he called out with cheers erupting from the stands.

With the match over, the snappers lowered Tenten to the ground and returned all her weapons. She quickly resealed them as well as removing the wires that held Verity's claw to the wall. However, instead of retracting it all the way back like many expected, she simply broke her left arm off like breaking a branch off a tree, wincing at the sensation. Everyone watched stunned as the broken off arm immediately started to blacken and wither along with all the snappers connected to it. Walking to Tenten, she offered her right hand in a gesture of goodwill. "Good match."

The Leaf Nin just smiled and shook it. "Thanks. Um … sorry about your arm," she said awkwardly, trying not to look at the stump where her left arm had been.

Verity just waved it off. "Don't worry about it, not the first time I've lost a limb. It'll grow back quick enough once I get something to eat," she said cheerily as if losing a limb was commonplace. Strange thing is, depending on which species, it was.

**Round 1 Winner – Verity-Y**

Up in the stands there was chatter all around as people recounted what they had just seen. They had seen some weird things involving ninjas but never anything quite this weird. The darkstalkers in the audience on the other hand were merely pleased at the display and the victory of one of their own, though they did give credit to the Konoha ninja for her quick thinking. However, different people were having different thoughts from watching just that one fight.

Some, like the Hyuuga clan elders other than Hiashi, had watched the fight intensely with their Byakugan and were shocked at what they saw. While they didn't care at all about the weapon user, the netherleaf caused them great concern. They had been ordered not to examine any of the Nexus teams with their bloodline and it wasn't until now that they found out why. First was the dark green color. While similar to the medical chakra used by healers, this chakra behaved very differently. The second thing, and the thing that truly worried them, was the fact that the plant girl had NO chakra points. Instead she seemed to be able to expel chakra evenly throughout her whole body without them, even when her body shape changed. What this basically meant was that their famous taijutsu, the Gentle Fist style, would basically be worthless. Their style was designed to do mass internal damage to internal organs and prevent them from using chakra by shutting off their chakra points. Problem was this girl didn't have either! One of the elders turned to the other, "We will need to call a meeting immediately after the Chunin exams." The others nodded, knowing that serious changes were going to be happening soon.

Sasuke frowned at what he had just seen with his Sharingan. He had all but dragged Kakashi back to the stadium so that they could be on time … for once, so that he could watch all the matches involving the darkstalkers. He had wanted to copy some of the abilities of demons and other creatures to use against his brother, but hit a small snag. 'I got nothing,' he thought looking down at his hand, imagining what it would be like with a _Toxic Claw_ on it. 'I couldn't copy her abilities. It's the same as with bloodlines,' he thought angrily. In retrospect, he should've anticipated this. The reason the Sharingan couldn't copy bloodlines simply was because his body wasn't built for it. He couldn't copy things like the Byakugan because his eyes didn't work like that or things like the Aburame's insect attacks because his body didn't have any insects. Now it seemed to also apply to darkstalkers as well for the same reasons. 'Doesn't matter, I'll kill him with or without demon abilities,' he thought coldly as they set up for the next match.

**Round 2 - Yoroi Akado VS Kankuro of the Desert**

In the center of the stadium, the two contestants were ready to begin their match. Both thought it would be easy given their unique talents. The masked Yoroi was not impressed by the black suited Sand ninja. While the Sand was part of the imminent invasion, he had no intention of losing this early in the tournament, especially to a guy that wore makeup. "This is going to be a short match," he said arrogantly to the opposing ninja.

Kankuro just smirked. "On that we can agree," he said equally as confident.

Hayate snorted, not at all impressed by their cockiness. "Okay, you know the rules. And … BEGIN!" he called out.

Yoroi ran forward and caught the Sand Nin in a surprise grapple hold. "Let's see how tough you are when I take away all your chakra," he boasted as he initiated the _Chakra Absorption Technique_. However, he got a surprise when he found there was no chakra to absorb. "What the!?" he exclaimed as "Kankuro's" arms suddenly extended and wrapped themselves around him, restraining him from doing anything. He watched helpless as the bandaged object on the Sand Nin's back unraveled to reveal the real Kankuro, controlling the puppet via chakra strings.

The black clad ninja smirked as he watched his captive struggle against Crow's grip. "You were right, this will be a short match," he smirked as the puppet tightened its grip and started to break some of his opponent's bones.

Hayate frowned. "That's enough, winner Kankuro," he announced. However the puppet didn't release its victim. "I said that's enough, let him go now or be disqualified," he ordered. Kankuro just scoffed and released Yoroi who was immediately picked up by the medics. He quickly rewrapped his puppet and went back to the stand. "Arrogant brat," Hayate muttered before looking up to the crowd. "Next match, Kiba Inuzuka versus Ria Talbain, please come down to the arena," he ordered.

**Round 2 Winner – Kankuro of the Desert**

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Serpent Snappers:** This is a short to mid range attack. What it does is it causes thorny vines to erupt with ends similar in appearance to dragon heads. The automatically seek out the nearest non-plant energy signature and restrain it or even crush it given enough energy. Used by jungle and swamp type netherleafs, snappers can be used both from seeds, allowing them to be thrown like grenades, and from the netherleaf's body directly. If used from their body directly, they can control just as they would a limb. It should be noted that if used via a seed, the area they land in will affect their strength, responsiveness, and how long they actually last just like it would affect an actual netherleaf.

**Spike Rope:** A long range attack used by many types of netherleafs and plant manipulators, as its name suggests, it creates a long whip-like vine lined with thorns. It should be important to note that this technique is affected by who uses it. For example, if a desert netherleaf uses it, the rope will be shorter than average but have stronger spikes. On the other hand, if a swamp netherleaf uses it, the rope will be much longer but the spikes will be much weaker than normal.

**Toxic Spear:** This is a close range attack used by many types of darkstalkers, including plant, undead, aquatic, reptilian, and any darkstalker with good knowledge and affinity with poisons. The user creates a lance out of their body, such as with leaves for netherleafs or scales with reptilian and aquatic, and then laces it with a powerful acid. The acid is usually powerful enough to melt through most kinds of metals but loses much of its lethality when exposed to water.

**Toxic Claw:** A variant of the _Toxic Spear_ where instead of creating a lance, the user creates a large claw over their hand and pumps acid through that. While not have the power of the _Toxic Spear_, it can have a wider area of effect. Again, it loses much of its deadliness when in contact with water.

**Twin Rising Dragons:** A long range attack used by weapon specialists. The user of this attack sets up two special containment scrolls that hold a variety of weapons. The scrolls erupt in smoke, creating two dragon-like shapes for cover as the user summons all the weapons. The user then throws the weapons at the target(s) and controls their direction with chakra strings. This allows the user to attack from multiple directions at once with a variety of weapons. **WARNING: **This move is highly susceptible to wind based counter attacks. Also, only use normal or enchanted level weapons for this attack. Do not use magic level and especially do not use sentient level weapons. Doing so has a high chance of accidentally activating their powers, causing backlash or causing sentient weapons to turn on the user during the time when the user in concentrating on controlling multiple weapons.

**Chakra Absorption Technique:** A close range technique used by various darkstalkers and humans to steal the chakra from another being through touch or some other close media. **WARNING:** Caution is recommended when using this technique. While human chakra can be absorbed by anyone, other types require caution. Absorbing chakra of the same type is perfectly fine, but too much of another type of chakra can have serious even lethal side effects for the user. For example, if a human with an earth element affinity absorbed too much fire chakra from a fire darkstalker, not only would the chakra be less potent for them than it would be for the original owner, it may also change their affinity from earth to fire as a result. The lethal aspect comes up when the user's chakra affinity is unable to mesh at all with the target's affinity. A good example is if a water darkstalker attempted this technique on a fire darkstalker. Because the two elements are opposite, the fire chakra would act as an inhibitor to the water chakra and would be unusable to the user of the technique. A high enough concentration would could even cause the fire chakra to act as a type of poison that could only be stopped if the fire chakra was removed or by a large dose of water chakra or whatever chakra type the user of the technique has. The chance of this varies extremely depending on the two types of chakra involved. It is currently unknown what other side effects may occur as a result of this technique.

AN: Sorry this took so long, I had to visualize the battle and then my computer erased it so I had to retype it from memory. The next round is going to be a fun one and one I think a lot of readers have been looking forward to. Also, I would like some suggestions for the Dark Tome if anyone has any as well as feedback on the fights. Please R&R.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 27: Cats VS Dogs – The Fur will FLY!

**Round 3 – ****Kiba Inuzuka & Akamaru ****VS Mia & Ria Talbain**

Down in the center of the arena were three figures, five if you counted their animal companions, which many people did. Both sides of the match were looking forward to this for various reasons. Kiba was looking forward to this simply because he hated cats and the idea of cats being used for ninja purposes was laughable to him. As far as he was concerned, cats had very little if any fighting potential or any real use in the ninja world. Granted for stealth and infiltration they may be good, but otherwise they were too small and weak to be of any real use. Plus they were difficult to train properly unlike dogs which were far superior. True the big cats like lions and tigers might be useful, but what they gained in fighting ability they lacked in stealth or tracking, again unlike dogs that had a good balance of both. "This is going to be easy, right Akamaru?" he asked his canine partner who just yipped in agreement.

On the other side of the match was the red haired cat girl with her blue highlighted sister on her shoulder. For them this match was something of interest. Many times she had seen humans attempt to emulate animals and their abilities, even attempting to become darkstalkers when it wasn't in their best interest. However, this boy and his clan had done so quite well without going overboard. They had the traits of animals and worked in unison with them, but were still more or less human. 'It'll be interesting to see how he matches up to one who is an animal,' the cats thought in unison.

Hayate looked between the two animalistic combatants, wondering how this match would go. 'Maybe we should have animal control on standby just in case,' he thought amused. "Okay you two, you know the rules. Begin!" he said quickly as he got out of the way given the action in the last match.

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as he dashed right at the cat girl with his canine companion next to him. The crimson cat girl ran to meet him, her kitty sister running to meet the dog. The two humanoid fighters met and began a taijutsu match. Kiba attempted to claw Ria (Mia) as she did the same. It was obvious that while Kiba may have had more power, he lacked the flexibility that the cat had. Otherwise the two were pretty equal in terms of speed. The two traded blows and claw slashes. The cat girl had an advantage due to her claws being larger. On the ground, the blue highlighted cat and the small white dog went at each other like the animals they were, almost mimicking the fight between their respective partners.

From the stands, Felicia cheered her two girls with her husband and son next to her. However, luck decided to be mischievous and had placed her right next to Tsume Inuzuka. Up until that point, neither had really noticed each other until they started yelling from the stands. "Come on Kiba, you whip those stupid cats!" Tsume shouted.

Felicia instantly turned towards the feral looking human and snorted, getting her attention. "Oh please, he and his puppy won't last five minutes against Ria and Mia," she replied confidently. She had right to be as those two cat girls were a couple of her most promising students.

Tsume narrowed her eyes, unaffected by the fact that the woman she was talking to had massive mane of blue hair with white cat ears on top of her head. "They're just a couple of mangy cats, they'll be beaten in no time," Tsume contested.

The catwoman's eye started to twitch at the insult, mostly because she had heard it so often when people referred to her species with distaste and quite frankly, she was sick of it. "Better to be mangy cats than a pair of pathetic mutts," she responded evenly in a cold tone. Normally she was very kind and friendly with everyone, but this woman just rubbed the darkstalker the wrong way. Behind her, Jon looked worried as he knew that tone. It was rare but whenever his wife started to use that tone, it was not good for anyone involved.

The Inuzuka matriarch turned and growled at the catwoman. Nobody called anyone of her clan worthless, especially not some prissy cat freak. "Watch it fur face, my son is down there and he is going to beat those worthless felines into the ground!" she exclaimed standing up to make her point. By now everyone was either watching the two or slowly backing away.

Felicia, not the least bit intimidated, rose up to meet her eye to eye, her tail fluffed out and lashing in her anger. Jon, who was right behind her was getting ready to restrain her while Hana Inuzuka was ready to do the same for her mother. "If he's anything like you, my daughters will run him into the ground, so don't you dare insult them," Felicia said in a warning tone mixed with a growl.

Tsume growled back. "What are you going to do about it, pussy?"

At that point, Jon decided to intervene. "Felicia calm down, we're here to make alliances not start a war," he said as calmly as possible, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah mom, just calm down and watch the match," Hana said calmly as she grabbed her mother's arm.

"You stay out of this," the two arguing women said at the same time, causing their family members to let them go and back up a little.

Everyone's attention then turned to someone chuckling in the row behind them. They turned to see a zombie that Felicia and Jon knew well, unfortunately, Zabel Raptor. "This is great. Say what would you call this, a bitch fight or a cat fight?" he asked still laughing. Everyone else nearby by was dead silent.

Naruto started to count down. "5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1…0" Just as he reached zero, both Felicia and Tsume tackled the zombie and proceeded to beat the undead crap out of him. It was like two starving animals going after the same piece of meat, except the piece of meat was still able to feel pain. "Mom gets scary when she's mad," Naruto murmured before turning back to the match, deciding to ignore his mother for now.

Kiba attempted a punch followed by a high roundhouse kick then a low leg sweep. Ria (Mia) just bent back to avoid the punch, ducked under the kick, and then back flipped to avoid the sweep and put some distance between the two of them. The Inuzuka just growled as she avoided his attacks. 'Damn it, this isn't getting us anywhere. Time to get serious,' he thought before turning to his dog, which was having similar trouble with the cat. "Akamaru let's go!" he called out as the dog ran to his side. Immediately, he threw a food pill to hi partner as he popped one himself. The two felines backed away and watched as the puppy's fur turned red and jumped on the head of his master who was becoming far more feral looking. "_Beast Mimicry,"_ he called out as he bent down, smoke enveloping the both of them. When the smoke cleared in place of Akamaru stood an identical Kiba, much to the surprise of many non-Leaf viewers. _"Man-Beast Clone!"_ they ended in unison.

The felines widened their eyes in surprise for a moment before smirking at them. 'Guess the façade is over,' the one in cat form thought before shifting into her humanoid form, both her and her twin taking identical stances, looking like they each were next to a mirror, just with different colored hair. "Two can play that game bone-breath," they taunted in unison. Now the real fight had started.

Both Kiba and Akamaru utilized their _All-Fours _jutsu as the two cats also went to all-fours. Hayate had to get out of the way as both teams started to run at high speeds, clashing with one another in the arena with their claws flashing in the afternoon light. You could easily see the crowd's heads as they moved trying to keep up with the combatants as they raced around on the walls, bouncing off trees and just going every which way. It was like trying to watch four pin balls going at once, except in this case the pin balls were trying to kill each other. However, it was easily becoming apparent that they were still dead locked in both speed and power, with a slight advantage going to the cats simply because they had bigger claws and they were born to run on all fours while Kiba and Akamaru in Kiba's form had to use a jutsu. Kiba decided to change it up a little. He pulled out some smoke bombs and just before crossing claws with the black and blue cat girl, he threw the bombs at point blank range, starting both her and the audience. That moment of hesitation was all Kiba needed to attack, causing the darkstalker to come flying out of the smokescreen after being hit in the chest. Kiba smirked. "You're not so tough, and here I was worried about losing to a couple of mangy flea-bitten cats," he mocked.

The red-haired cat joined her sister as Akamaru joined Kiba. Both cats were growling at him for his comment. "You're one to talk about being flea-bitten. When was the last time you took a bath," blue snarled at him.

"No kidding, what do you do, roll around in garbage for the heck of it," red added to her sister's taunt.

Kiba just scowled, having had enough. "That's it, you worthless cats are going down!" he yelled before he and Akamaru launched at them again. As before, Kiba threw some smoke grenades, but this time they didn't just punch or kick. "Eat this, _Tunneling Fang!_" he called out as both he and Akamaru began spinning like drills toward the confused cats. Despite this, both cats heard them coming and were able to move out of the way, but only barely. The two cyclones each chased a cat as the felines continued to dodge, destroying large chunks of the arena.

"Come on sis, let's roll out!" the blue haired cat girl called out as both of them went into a _Rolling Buckler_ gaining speed and creating their own tears in the arena. The fight had gone from a taijutsu match to a pin ball game and now to a demolition derby. With Akamaru chasing one cat and Kiba the other, the arena was being torn to shreds. Everyone watched as the two wheeling cats swerved around the arena with the two drilling-dogs right behind them. The wheels went to opposite ends of the arena before turning directly for each other with the dog right behind. The two came right at each other and just before they hit, they veered to the side, uncurled, and jumped over the opposite _Tunneling Fang_, hoping to cause the two to crash into each other. Instead, one of them jumped over the other which moved straight, each still chasing their respective cat. 'Damn it, I was so sure that would work,' blue thought as the two whirled around for another pass. By this point, Tsume and Felicia had thoroughly beaten Zabel into the ground and were now watching the match with rapt attention, though they were both still tense around each other.

'Time for a different tactic then,' red thought as they lined up once more. Everyone watched, expecting to see a repeat of before. They were only partially right. Like the first time the cats swerved to miss each other and instead ran right into the Kiba that was chasing the other. Having the _Tunneling Fang_ meet the _Rolling Buckler_ in a head-on collision is basically the same as having a drill meet a grinding wheel, both going at top speed. The result? A grinding metal-like sound that made everyone wince for a moment before both of the Leaf ninja were directed/forced straight into the ground while the darkstalkers were launched at opposite angles into the air. The red-haired cat girl landed in the stands created by the netherleafs while the blue-haired one landed in the concrete made stands and hitting a vendor, who was knocked out and causing the darkstalker to be covered in condiments.

Kiba and Akamaru, who had changed back by now, dragged themselves out of the dirt as the two cat girls made their way to the arena, the blue-haired one shaking the stuff off, but still reeking of onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce. Both sides regrouped, looking rather battered from that collision. Kiba scowled at the two felines. 'Damn it, who knew a pair of cats, would give me so much trouble? No choice then, time to pull out our ace in the hole,' he thought before turning to his canine partner. "Hate to say buddy, but it looks like we have to use it if we want to win." Akamaru just barked in reluctant agreement as he didn't want to lose to a pair of cats any more than his partner did. If they did lose however, it would be a humiliation not only to them but to their whole clan. "Let's go! Inuzuka Style: Man-Beast Combo," he called out as a plume of smoke erupted around the two of them. "_Two-Headed Wolf_!" The smoke cleared to reveal a massive two-headed white wolf. The great beast stood twice as tall as Kiba had with burning red eyes and twin fanged maws dripping with drool.

The two cats looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation that only close siblings were able to have. They knew their normal attacks wouldn't be able to counter that thing, especially if it did what they thought it did. They both nodded and immediately went into _Reverse Rolling Bucklers_, heading straight for the arena wall. The massive two-headed hound watched as they did so, getting ready to launch its final attack. If this failed, both Kiba and Akamaru would be out of chakra, but if it worked, then victory was theirs. Normally they would've needed to use _Dynamic Marking_ in order to "lock onto" their targets for this. However, these cat girls had a very distinct scent compared to other people, especially since one of them was now smelled like a greasy food vendor. They weren't sure if that was true for all darkstalkers or what. All they knew was that these cats scent wise stood out quite a bit, saving them some trouble. When said cats hit they wall they immediately went up it and launched themselves into the air. Once the reached the peak of their ascent, they uncurled and each instantly created a _Shadow Clone_ of themselves in mid air. While they were nowhere near as proficient with this technique as their brother Naruto, they could do it well enough for what they had planned. The clones grabbed the originals and flung them both right at the massive canine before poofing away. Seeing its chance, the canine went into its attack. "_Double Wolf Fang!"_ Kiba called out as the wolf spun like a massive drill and launched itself at the two incoming cat girls.

Ria and Mia met in mid-air and curled up around one another and started to spin at an incredible rate. _"Great Wheel Cutter!" _they cried out as they formed a much larger version of the _Rolling Buckler_. Along the large black wheel, a line of chakra could be seen, making it into one massive saw blade. Like Kiba's technique, if this failed they were done.

Everyone watched with silent breath as the white colored drill met the black saw blade in mid-air. A high pitched screech was heard like metal scraping metal as the two attacks were deadlocked. Many darkstalkers and ninjas with sensitive hearing immediately covered their ears as this was much worse than before. For a tense moment, it looked as if neither would overpower the other until … both techniques shattered from the force, sending all four combatants flying in separate directions. Mia and Ria were both shot to the sides of the arena like cannonballs, the red-haired one going over the wall and landing head-first in a nearby pond while the blue-haired one was simply shot into the wall. Akamaru was sent careening into the plant made stands, ending up entangled in some vines and dizzy as hell from what just happened. Kiba was sent into the concrete stands, specifically the passage to enter and exit the stands, kicking up a massive amount of dust in the process.

Hayate blinked as he and everyone waited to see if any of the fighters would get up. Looking at the black and blue feline, he could see she was embedded into the wall upside down and was really out of it, she wouldn't be fighting for some time. In the plant stands he could see Akamaru was in a similar state, hanging from some vines looking like he was going to take a nap for awhile. Using chakra, he quickly climbed the wall to get a better view. He could see Kiba was in a similar state to blue-haired cat, embedded into a wall twitching a little bit, and as for the red one, she was floating face-up in the pond, also seeing stars. Having no choice he spoke up. "None of the combatants are able to continue. The match is a draw." Tsume and Felicia both face-palmed not believing this.

**Round 3 Winner – Tie**

Naruto ran to his blue-haired sibling who was still stuck in the wall and sputtering incoherently. Running on the side of the wall, he attempted to pull his sister out of the wall while ignoring the smell with limited success. "Could someone lend me a hand, or possibly a crowbar?" he yelled out to the stands. He got a few chuckles as Verity-Y came over and extended her fingers into vine-like tentacles, digging through the concrete and gently lifting the unaware cat girl despite still only having one arm. Kiba and Akamaru were quickly collected by medic ninja as the red-headed darkstalkers was fished out of the pond by a couple of catwomen.

Hayate sighed as he did a quick survey of the arena, what was left of it anyway. 'I need a vacation after this,' he thought before turning to the crowd. "Could Amethyst Heart and Neji Hyuuga come to the arena please for the fourth round?"

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Beast Mimicry: Man-Beast Clone**: This technique is similar to the basic _Henge_ or _Transformation _jutsu in that it changes a target's appearance. However, this technique changes not the user's appearance but the appearance of their animal partner through the use of chakra wrapped around their form. It's used to turn the target animal into a copy of the user, allowing the animal to use the same jutsu the user can. This jutsu is usually used by ninja with animal partners, such as the Inuzuka or the Aburame.

**All-Fours Jutsu:** This technique allows the user to run on all fours like an animal, increasing their speed and agility but making it harder for them to do hand signs. Usually used by humans with animal partners/specialties.

**Tunneling Fang: ** The user rolls to the side at high speeds delivering many animalistic attacks in a drill like fashion. It can be used to drill through the ground as its name suggests. This jutsu is currently exclusive to the Inuzuka clan of Konoha

**Two-Headed Wolf:** This is a type of combination _Henge_ where the user and their animal partner transform together into a large, two-headed white wolf. Currently, it is exclusive to the Inuzuka clan though other combinations have been used in other areas.

**Double Wolf Fang:** After using the previous jutsu, the wolf can then perform a much larger version of _Tunneling Fang. _However, because of the increased rotational speed, the users are unable to see their target and instead have to rely on smell to track it. This is be done through marking the target though it may not be necessary if the target has a unique enough smell to distinguish it from the rest of the environment. This move does not need to hit in order to cause damage as the winds while spinning will damage anything too close and a direct hit is able to take out all but the strongest of barriers. This move is also exclusive to the Inuzuka clan.

**Shadow Clone**: Similar to the Clone Technique, this jutsu creates clones of the user. Unlike the Clone Technique, these clones are actual copies, not illusions. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power. The clones are capable of performing jutsu on their own and can even bleed, but will usually disperse after one or two solid blows. They can also disperse on their own. Unlike other clones, they can't be detected by the Byakugan or similar bloodlines such as enhanced senses because the clones have the exact same amount of chakra and aren't made from any other substance, making them indistinguishable from the actual person. Any experience the clones gain during their existence is transferred to the user once they are dispersed. This makes the technique ideal for spying, since the user can simply send a clone to spy on a target, and then have the clone disperse itself without returning to pass the information back to the user. It's also useful for training purposes, since the total amount of experience the user gains is multiplied by the total number of clones being used to train. Using it in this manner is far more difficult, however, since a large number of clones are needed to make a significant difference in the training time. It's unclear if other types of clones possess this advantage. Another advantage to this type of clone over others is its ability to use ninjutsu and genjutsu. Since it is made up of chakra with no other element added, it can do jutsu as easily as the user can. However, doing so will decrease that particular clone's time limit by however much chakra they use. Also if the jutsu has any kind of backlash, it may destroy the clone as a result.

This technique is considered dangerous because of the manner in which the clones are created. Because the user divides their chakra among the clones, the user could potentially use up all their chakra fairly quickly if the user is low on chakra or makes too many clones, such as with Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, this jutsu's enhanced (and forbidden) form. The technique can also be dangerous if the user is injured or has some otherwise debilitating physical condition at the time of the cloning, since all of the clones will be created in roughly the same state. This is the same for darkstalkers who are able to morph into different forms as the clones will be in the form of whatever the user is at that moment, though the clones will be able to shift just as the user is, so it makes little difference in that regard.

This technique is used quite often by Jonin Leaf ninja and by all ninja from Nexus. The reason for that is simple; darkstalkers tend to have way too much chakra and too little control to do a standard clone technique, especially when the power of the Dark and or the Light is added to the mix. As a result, both the Shadow Clone and the standard Clone are taught at the Nexus Academy and all students are required to be able to do either one or the other, preferably both if possible.

**Great Wheel Cutter:** A much larger variant of the _Rolling Buckler _move that requires two or more users to pull off. The users jump into the air, grab onto each others feet and roll in unison at high speeds. In addition, the users line up their tails with each others' spines and generate a line of chakra that sharpens into a powerful blade, thus giving this move its cutting ability. Without it, it would merely grind things as the _Rolling Bucker_ does. Also, due to the speeds and that multiple users are required for this move, it is hard to steer and change direction. Because of the strain of the move, using clones for it is highly risky as they are subject to dispersal causing the user to go flying either into the air or into the ground. Power wise, this move is able to cut through just about any large object, from boss summons, to buildings, to solid rock.

**DARK TOME:**** Civilian Vehicles**

**Info:** Along with the massive Sky ships and Air ships, those in Atum-Coma also use a number of other smaller vehicles in their day to day operation. They can be the standard things found in other villages such has horse drawn carriages or machines developed by various sparks and magic users, all of which were designed for various mundane tasks such as moving goods or people. As a result of the number of people developing these things, vehicles can differ wildly even if they've been built for the same purpose. Some use wheels, others mechanical legs and few even hover off the ground. Same thing with smaller vehicles used in the water and air. Add into the fact that the different districts vary so much, one vehicle suited for say Tirana, the desert like district, wouldn't be of much use in the winter-like district of Frost Blight. However, there are a few vehicles that are common throughout Atum-Coma.

One of the most common civilian vehicles seen throughout the city is the Rail Transit, more commonly called the trolley. It's a specialized train on tracks suspended in the air that is connected all over the city, even the underwater areas in The Below. Many people ride both in and on top of it to get around without having to walk a long distance. Each district is in charge of taking care of their section of the rails and will be nagged heavily by the other districts and may result in some … complications. Another common sight is the ninja taxi. This is usually a cart of some type that it man powered by someone up front. The reason for the name is because many ninja and others use it as a combination means of training and making some extra cash when not on missions. Many beast-type darkstalkers who run these taxis use the _Rolling Buckler_ move to make to their destinations in record time. However, this is a "ride at your own risk" type of thing as people unused to them have been known to fall off, get seriously motion sick, or get whiplash. It is also because of these that jaywalking isn't much of a problem as doing so may get you mowed down by accident, especially during rush hour.

Another common sight in terms of vehicles is racing vehicles. For the races, various vehicles are developed by different people. These racers have to be one seat vehicles and must meet the regulations of whatever class they're entered in. The trick is that the vehicles must be able to handle all types of terrain, thus making the designs quite interesting.

AN: Next battle will be an interesting one. I now have a few ideas for the DARK TOME, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I would be open to them.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 28: Family Feud – Ninjas Vs Pirates

After Ria, Mia, Kiba, and Akamaru were all retrieved, Hayate took a look around the arena, or what was left of it. Having judge before, he knew how bad some of these fights could get, but not like this. The ground was torn up from Verity's _Serpent Snappers_ with the remains of her arm all over the place and now there were huge trenches everywhere from the Inuzuka's and cat girls' attacks. 'The repair bill is going to be really bad this time around,' he thought before calling down the next two fighters.

Neji walked down to the arena, head held high and absolute confidence in his victory over the pirate. Despite the fact that her only relation to the main house was through blood, she was still favored, receiving immediate training despite the fact that she belonged to another village when they were so adamant about the _Caged Bird Seal_ being on the Branch House. 'They are nothing but hypocrites and I will prove how weak the blood of the Main House is this day, fate has decreed it,' he though with absolute certainty. However, his certainty wavered slightly as he saw Hinata come down the steps casually, the talking bird on her shoulder and that freaky sword of hers attached to her back. Interestingly, the sword was upside down from what he saw it before. Instead of the handle and guard sticking out on the lower left side and the shark face appearing over the left shoulder, the sword was flipped, making it so that the handle was above the left shoulder instead. What that meant exactly, only a few select people knew.

Amethyst Heart walked down to the arena, with cloak and hat to keep her self better hidden, something she picked up from her ship mates on her mother's ship. She had learned a lot since becoming Ruby's daughter, much more than what many would believe. For one, she knew how to handle arrogant pricks like her cousin here. 'Take them seriously, but don't let them know you're taking them seriously,' Amy thought to herself, going over what her mother had taught her about situations like this. It was one of the things pirates and ninjas had in common, tactics and deception. Ninjas used it subtly while pirates tended to be more dynamic about it, but they did both use it frequently. In this case, she knew Neji could give her quite a challenge, but he didn't need to know that and the more unnerved he was, the better it was for her. In any case, she knew the most important thing of any battle, have fun with it.

Both Ruby Heart and Hiashi Hyuuga looked at the two fighters. To a casual observer they both seemed relaxed, but to the two parents of Amethyst/Hinata, they were anything but. Hiashi could see the confidence and the readiness in Neji, as well as the absolute intent to take down his daughter with extreme prejudice. However he had gotten to know Hinata … Amethyst a little bit during training and knew that like the skies she sailed, she could seem calm one moment and then become a raging hurricane the next. Ruby knew this for a fact and knew that she was taking this seriously simply by the position of her sword. The only reason that Amethyst would have her sword like that instead of the opposite was because she wanted to use the _Mortal Draw_. It was a lethal and yet highly risky technique, but was highly effective against close range fighters that came straight at you. 'What are you planning matey?' she wondered.

Neji stared at the girl for a moment before speaking. "I never thought I face you in such a manner. It seems fate had decided otherwise," he stated clearly and coldly.

Amethyst just chuckled. "Aye, you'll get no argument from me there though I don't really care for fate," she said simply which caused Neji to frown.

Kir spoke up. "Yeah, he always cheats at cards," he said with a chuckle.

**Round 4 – Neji Hyuuga VS Amethyst Heart**

Both stood as Hayate called out begin. Neji took the standard Gentle Fist stance while Amy stood still, her cloak covering her body and her hat hiding her eyes. The two stood silent as they gauged each other, Kir and Sharkey standing ready for their mistress's command. Neji activated his Byakugan and scanned Amethyst. Though she appeared calm and relaxed her body's slight motions betrayed her. 'She is ready move the moment I do to draw one of her living weapons but I can't tell which one she is planning to go for, the bird or the sword,' he thought as weighed his options. He had seen what that bird was capable of and a close range blast from it could do serious damage. Likewise that shark sword was nothing to underestimate either.

There was a tense silence before they both moved at same moment. Neji dashed forward at top speed, hoping to nail Amethyst with his _Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms_ attack. The pirate on the other hand, reached for both of her living weapons, spinning around as she did so. Her right hand flew to the shark blade handle and swinging it with incredible speed and precision as her left hand went for Kir, instantly forming his gun mode. While Neji was fast, Amethyst was equal if not faster, plus Sharkey gave her a much farther reach than his Gentle Fist. He stopped dead and bent backwards, using all his flexibility to avoid the shark blade's teeth as it sailed over him. The Hyuuga reared up to attack, but didn't have a chance as he saw a familiar green light and immediately jumped away from the multiple _Kir Royale_ attacks from the bird. He stopped a good distance away to see that the girl had discarded her cloak and stood ready with both the sword and bird. Had either of those attacks connected, it would've ended the game for the opponent.

Everyone in the crowd silently watched the fighters. That initial standoff kept everyone's eyes glued to the scene to see what would happen next. Hiashi and Ruby stood a good distance away from each other, both silently contemplating their situation as they watched the match. Both wanted Amethyst/Hinata to win, but for very different reasons. Hiashi wanted her to win using at least some of the techniques he taught her to prove that she was worthy to be heir to the elders. Another reason was that by defeating Neji, she may be able to get through to him and break the influence of the elders who wanted him to replace both her and Hanabi. While normally Hiashi would be glad to do this, the elders currently had too much sway over him and could make a lot of trouble for the clan. Ruby on the other hand, wanted her daughter to win because the girl was her daughter, plain and simple. However, how she won would be a concern. Would she use the techniques Hiashi taught her, showing that she in some sense accepted her possible role as heir, or would she stick with the moves she learned from Ruby, showing that she was still a pirate at heart? It was a major concern to the blonde, one-eyed woman, but she would wait it out and see what happened, come hell or high water.

Neji snorted, "You are better than I thought. Still, even with your sword, bird, and training from Lord Hiashi, you are no match for me. Everyone is born with a certain degree of talent, and that does not change. Struggling against your fate is futile. You do not have the ability to defeat me, so you do well to keep your distance."

Amethyst and Kir stood there blinking for a few moments, as if they couldn't comprehend what he had just said. They then gave each other a look before turning back to Neji. Kir was the first to break the awkward silence. "Boy is he whacked. Think he was dropped on his head as a child?" the albatross asked casually, much to the annoyance of the Hyuuga.

Amy shrugged, "Who knows? Anyone who believes that bunch of bilge water can't be flying with all the sails open."

Neji narrowed his eyes at them, suddenly hating her more he should've. "What would you know about fate? Everyone's fate is sealed the moment they are born, just as mine was with the _Caged Bird Seal_," he shouted at them.

Amethyst just laughed at that point. "Sealed from the moment they were born? Now that's rich. I mean look at me, I was born to a high class ninja family and I ended up as a sky pirate. If fate does exist, it is pretty screwed up. I say, those who believe in fate are cowards who can't face the world," she cried out as she launched a massive volley of _Kir Royale_ blasts.

Neji scowled, deciding to forget trying to convince her to quite and to simply beat her into the ground. He stood his ground and just as the green energy orbs he quickly began to spin around. "_Kaiten!"_ His chakra flared as he spun creating a shield and blocking the blasts, though only just so. He staggered back from the force of the _Kir Royale_ attacks, now knowing that nothing less then the _Kaiten_ would be able to stop them, meaning they were now at a stale mate. Her long range attacks couldn't pierce his _Kaiten_ but he couldn't get close enough to her to use his Gentle Fist as long as she had the bird. Having trained with a weapon mistress, he was pretty sure he could get past that shark sword of hers, but that bird posed a unique problem.

On the other side of the arena, Kir was having a problem. "Sorry Amy, my throat can't take much more. I've got enough for one more shot," Kir muttered to his partner.

Amethyst just smirked. "Not a problem matey, I'll just have to improvise a little bit," she said as she jumped straight up. On the ground without Kir she knew she would be at a major disadvantage, so she decided to change things up a bit. She pointed Kir straight down and let loose another blast, propelling her up higher. The albatross quickly disengaged himself from her and she immediately grabbed the anchor and chain connected to Sharkey. Neji and most of the crowd watched in confusion, wondering what she was doing. Swinging the chain and anchor at high speeds, she threw it straight down into the ground, much to everyone's confusion. _"Chain Crossfire!"_ she cried out as duplicate anchors erupted from all over the stadium, each connected to a seemingly infinite chain. The chains and anchors embedded themselves all over the arena, pulling them selves taught and creating numerous tightropes, or tight-chains as it were. Amethyst swung Sharkey, the shark sword catching one of the chains in his teeth but not cutting it. She swung around and then gracefully landed on the chain, balancing on it like an acrobat on a tightrope. "Hey landlubber, come and get me if you can!" she called down to Neji who was just annoyed at this point. Though she could've tangled him up with the technique, but a concentrated blast of chakra would've cut the chains. This way, she was forcing him to fight on her terms, as crazy as they were.

The Hyuuga boy scowled as he ran up the wall to the correct chain and jumped on it, facing the pirate in this battle turned circus act. He wavered a little bit but kept his balance. 'She isn't as foolish as I thought. Up here she has the advantage, both with that sword and that she is used to fighting like this,' he thought as he remembered her earlier fight with that creature that was living in the refrigerator behind the mayonnaise, next to the … oh hell you know the rest. He stood in the standard Gentle Fist stance while Amethyst stood holding Sharkey ready, holding the anchor and chain connected to it.

In a flash, the two dashed at each other and engaged in a high wire or chain as the case may be, battle. Neji attempted to strike down Amethyst who blocked the attacks with both Sharkey and the anchor. The sword, while living, didn't use chakra the same way humans did and thus the attacks had little to no effect. Likewise, Amethyst tried to run Neji threw, only to be deflected by his Gentle Fist style. In fact he might've been able to take her down by now if it weren't for the fact that they were fighting on a chain suspended several stories high. With Neji, basically being forced to watch his stance and balance less he fall straight down even with using chakra to stick to the chain, his attention was divided plus he couldn't maneuver like he was used too and thus couldn't fully use his Gentle Fist.

The separated, both backing off a little bit to evaluate what to do. Amethyst then got a devious grin on her face, causing Neji to raise an eyebrow. In a flash she threw a kunai at him that he easily ducked. However, his Byakugan caught the sight of something attached to it, an explosive note. His white eyes widened as he realized she wasn't aiming for him, but the point at the wall where the chain they were standing on was anchored. Just as the note exploded and the chain began to fall to the ground, the pirate swung her own chain and anchor, latching onto another nearby strung up chain and swinging away safely as Neji began to fall. The Hyuuga, thinking quickly, grabbed the chain he was standing on as it fell and swung it like a whip. It caught on another chain and he swung down and landed on a chain still anchored, though it was lower than the one Amethyst was currently standing on. He looked up and glared at the pirate girl who was cheekily grinning at him. "You're stupid tricks will not save you! You cannot defy fate," he angrily yelled at her as he ran to the wall in order to get to the chain she was on. No way would he dare jump from one chain to another, considering whom he was dealing with.

Amethyst just continued to smile at him. "Not from where I'm standing matey," she taunted as he ran up to her chain again. "Took you long enough. So, shall we continue our little dance or would you like to give up?" she asked sweetly.

Neji scowled at her, her attitude finally getting to him. "I refuse to surrender to an obviously inferior opponent. I will win because it is fate, just as it is fate that the Branch house is enslaved to the Main house, just as it was fate that my father died and yours lived simply because he was born a few minutes earlier!" he cried out as he came her faster than before. _"Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!"_ he cried out as he attacked her chakra points with vicious accuracy. Amethyst attempted to block with Sharkey but could stop all the strikes and just prevented her right arm from being paralyzed. When Neji was about to go for the chakra points in her legs, Kir intervened and took the full brunt of the attack.

"KIR!" Amethyst yelled as she watched her avian companion fall to ground, most of his chakra points closed. He had prevented her from falling off the chain by making sure her legs still worked.

Neji just snorted at her cry as he backed away slightly surprised at the bird's interference. "Pathetic, relying on that excuse for a bird to save you when fate has decreed that I will win," he said with absolute certainty.

Amethyst Heart just narrowed her eyes at her biological cousin. She raised her shark sword and pointed it straight at him so that the face and teeth were staring at him. Normally she wouldn't use this move in this situation, balancing on a chain, half her body paralyzed, and Kir down and out, but Neji had just pushed her a little too far. "Neji, you can take fate," she said in a deadly quiet voice as the eyes of the skull hilt of her sword began to glow. "And cram it up your ass!" she finished as the mouth of the skull that was holding the living blade opened. _"Shark Sword Tsunami!"_

Neji had no time to react as in a flash of multicolored energy he saw a massive shark made of energy coming right at him. Unable to do more then cross his arms in defense, the Hyuuga got the full force of Sharkey's true form, knocking him into the wall behind him, destroying it and the chain's anchor point while ripping him apart, doing massive damage. Amethyst on the other hand, was blown backwards by the recoil of the move, causing her to also go flying backwards. The two crashed into opposing walls at the same time. Amethyst reacting quickly, placed her sword handle in her mouth which at moment didn't have a blade, and quickly grabbed the broken chain with her right hand since her left was still paralyzed from Neji's attack. Using her legs and her one working arm, she slowly slid down as she watched the massive dust cloud where Sharkey and Neji had crashed. The pirate and the crowd watched as Neji fell to the ground once the shark had dissipated, one of the trees breaking his fall somewhat. He lay on the ground, unconscious and unmoving. 'Jackass got what was coming to him,' she thought as she made her way over to her Kir. "Crazy bird. You're getting a pint of rum when we get back home," she commented with a smile as she picked him up, still alive but unconscious, and placed him on her shoulder. She absently watched as energy gathered around the skull hilt in her hand and reformed into Sharkey, who was now asleep. She placed him on her back, picked up her cloak, and made her way to the stands, absently humming to herself. "And really bad eggs. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. Yo ho yo ho, a pirate's life for me."

**Round 4 Winner – Amethyst Heart**

Hayate shook his head. "The winner is Amethyst Heart." The crowd went nuts cheering for the young pirate as both she and Neji were treated by the medical teams. Up in the stands, most of the Hyuuga weren't sure whether to cheer or what. True a blood relative of the Main house had beaten the prodigy of the Branch house, just as it should be, but she did it without using any Hyuuga techniques. Did that mean that the Main house was naturally that much stronger with or without them, or did it mean that the Hyuuga techniques as a whole were weak? Needless to say, the Hyuuga elders weren't sure which possibility bothered them more. Ruby Heart on the other hand, along with every sky pirate in the area, cheered, hooted, and hollered for their pirate princess, though no one dared call her that to her face for fear of theirs being broken. Nonetheless, the girl was a pirate and no one could tell Ruby otherwise.

Surveying the damage, Hayate sighed as the chains from the girl's technique poofed out of existence. The stadium was now one-third demolished and they still had eleven more fights to go through. "Would Axel Raptor and Misumi Tsurugi please come down?"

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms:** This a close range jutsu that closes off sixty-four specific chakra points on an opponent's body with the Gentle Fist taijutsu style used by the Hyuuga family in conjunction with their bloodline the Byakugan. It effectively eliminates the opponent's ability to use chakra for quite some time and making it quite difficult for them to move. It begins with the closing of two chakra points, followed by four more, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and then sixty-four strikes. Each set of strikes is done at an increasing pace. It should be noted that the chakra points can be reopened with a concentrated burst of chakra out of each point. However, doing so requires a substantial amount of chakra and hurts quite a bit. Another important note is that this attack has limited effectiveness against certain types of darkstalkers, specifically any darkstalkers that can shape shift, who have extra body parts such as tails or wings, who are unnatural creatures such as a constructs, or whose chakra systems are far from normal such as undead or plant types. Currently, this attack is only used by member of the Hyuuga clan.

**Kir Royale:** This is a long range attack consisting of a focused sphere of an explosive mix of chakra and energy of the Dark. This move is exclusively used by the sentient weapon Kir the albatross who is currently partnered with Amethyst Heart. While potent, Kir can only do this move a limited number of times before having to rest his throat, essentially reloading. Since this move is powered by Amy's chakra with Kir as a focus, this attack has the potential to be modified, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

**Mortal Draw:** A close range sword technique used by many pirates and sword users in Nexus. Though dangerous to use, it is a powerful move that very few can dodge and even fewer can block if at all. It requires high levels of speed, strength, and accuracy as well as excellent timing but when mastered can kill with one unexpected shot. The user draws their blade, spins at high speed, and strikes the target at a very vital point, usually the neck. To use this move however, the user must lower their defenses in order to draw properly and to get the target close enough for it to be a lethal strike. It is possible to use this move and have it not be lethal, but only those who are at least proficient at it can do this.

**Kaiten:** This jutsu utilizes the chakra control gained through Gentle Fist training to release a huge amount of chakra from the user's chakra points when struck. The released chakra blocks any possible attack. The user then spins around rapidly to parry the attack creating both a shield of chakra around them selves and tossing away any would-be attackers. However, the Heavenly Spin, as it is also called, is only effective when rotating. Chakra itself is not enough to stop a physical attack, unless it is extremely concentrated, but can counter an energy attack depending on how much and what type. Since such concentration is impossible with the Hyuuga members, they must rotate in order to maximize the deflection. If the rotation stops, they become vulnerable once again and thus timing is crucial in many cases.

**Chain Crossfire:** This is a mid to long range jutsu used by both weapon specialists and raiders such as sky pirates. This jutsu is another variant of the _Shadow Clone_ but instead of the user copying them self, they copy the chain and make it appear wherever they want within the nearby area. As they appear, the user can make the chains do anything, from entangling a target, creating a bridge, or in the case of sky pirates a net to catch them if necessary. However, once the chains have appeared, they cannot be manipulated any further. An advantage to this jutsu is that the chains created can be any length as the jutsu isn't copying the chain as a whole but rather all the links in the chain in a certain formation. Another advantage to this jutsu is that the chains will not disappear until commanded, even when cut again because the jutsu is copying the links themselves and not the chain as a whole. Theoretically it is possible to do this jutsu with just a single chain link, though it is much more difficult and requires chakra control on an equal or greater level to that of the sannin Tsunade along with a large enough chakra pool to make it effective.

**Shark Sword Tsunami:** A long and wide range attack used solely by the sentient sword Sharkey. This is a powerful attack but it has severe limits. Normally, Sharkey cuts/eats energy of any kind, chakra, electricity, the Dark, the Light, magic, any kind at all and stores it inside himself along with any solid material he can get to go with it, though some solid materials don't agree with his stomach despite being able to handle any type of energy. He can then release this energy in a number of ways, depending on what type of energy he has consumed. This attack however, is his most powerful in that it releases ALL of the energy he has stored up at that point in one massive shark shaped blast in which his spirit takes control of. The size and side-effects of the blast are both relative to the amount of energy and materials and what types he's eaten. However, during the actual attack the hilt has no blade and it pretty useless as anything other than brass knuckles. Also, once Sharkey reforms as the blade, he's out of it for a short while before being able to eat again and thus is no different from a normal sword.

**DARK TOME: Guns**

**Info:** While swords and other close range weapons are preferred, guns also have a place in Nexus. Developed mostly by Sparks and engineers and used by many, guns are almost as common in Nexus as kunai and similar weapons. They tend to be used by civilians, jägermonsters, sky pirates, Sparks, and generally anyone who is unable to use jutsu, magic, or any similar abilities. There are three basic types of guns in Nexus, projectile, energy, and enhanced. Projectile guns are guns that use normal bullets, arrows, blades, etc. that have no special properties. Energy guns are just as the name entails; guns that use energy instead of normal bullets. Last but not least, enhanced guns use projectiles with special characteristics such as freezing, electrocuting, exploding, etc. when they hit. Civilians use them because they want some type of offensive power but don't have the ability for jutsus and such. Jägermonsters use them simply because they like explosions and dislike complicated things like hand signs or incantations. Sky pirates use them simply out of practicality since such long range weapons are perfect for their sky ships where magic and jutsu has to be limited, as well as the fact that cannons on said ships is something of a tradition. Lastly, Sparks tend to use guns of their own creation since they prefer to rely on their creations rather than simple brute force and like the jägermonsters they tend to like a good explosion. They also tend to equip guns to their various war machines as long range weapons.

While there is a wide range of guns available, they are generally not used by darkstalkers and ninjas for multiple reasons. The first reason is that while they are good at long range, at close range they are highly ineffective especially against trained ninja and darkstalkers. Second, since many darkstalkers have advanced healing and resistance to certain things; there is no projectile that would be universally effective against all types. Each type of gun also has its own problems. Projectile types have very limited effectiveness overall and enhanced types are only most effective in certain situations. A problem with both these types is ammo consumption. Carrying enough ammo along with reloading can severely hinder the user, especially against ninja and darkstalkers who can easily use such openings to take the user out quickly. Enhanced guns have the added problem of creating their special ammo with can be costly and time consuming depending on what the ammo is. With energy guns, the problem isn't ammo but vulnerability. Energy guns tend to be highly susceptible to outside energy sources depending on how their created and with what type of energy as their power source. Another problem is that if damaged enough or in a specific way, energy guns tend to explode in the user's face. One last annoyance with most guns is that they are clunky when carried by ninjas or darkstalkers who rely on movement and not very cost effective or versatile when compared to kunai, hence why they are not used by ninjas. Some have considered using sealing scrolls to seal guns into for later use, but this is only effective with projectile guns as enhanced and energy type guns may be affected by the sealing and unsealing process.

There has been talk of development of two new types of guns, the caster gun and the sentient gun. The caster gun is said to be a new type of enhanced gun that absorbs the ambient energy in the area to power its shots. The shots themselves are specialized shells with runes and seals on the inside that convert the energy into the blast. This would make the gun extremely versatile and make the ammo easy to create. As far as anyone knows, it is still in the planning stages only. The second type is the sentient gun. Like sentient swords, a sentient gun has marvelous potential but is extremely difficult as guns tend to be far more complex then swords or other items. For comparison, a sword is usually just one piece with no moving parts, whereas a gun is actually many pieces all moving around to a certain end and that is why they are so hard to raise to enchanted level and higher. As such, there are only rumors of sentient level guns with the only one being confirmed is Kir, the albatross. Any information of others, if they exist, is still just rumors.

AN: For those wondering, I based _Chain Crossfire_ on Anubis' attack "Quake with Fear!" from Ronin Warriors. Again, still looking for suggestions for the Dark Tome, please Read and Review.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 29: Sounds, Sandstorms, and Succubae … What the hell!?

As the two fighters made their way to the main area, what was left of it, many of the spectators were talking about what had happened and what was to come. Many were still talking about the first, third, and, most recently, fourth fights. The second hadn't been of much interest and was too short to be noteworthy. The other three however, got a lot of people thinking and talking. Many were merchants and lords from all over who wanted to catch the first true look at those from Nexus. What they saw was very interesting and had many drooling over the prospects.

The first match had shown the plant manipulation capabilities of the netherleafs and many wanted to exploit that in research and production, such as in medicine or food. They could grow record crops in weeks or even days rather than in the normal seasons. The money from those surplus crops would be quite a large amount. The fight with the cat girls had given many ideas in the realm of spying and infiltration. Cats were generally invisible; nobody would think twice at seeing an alley cat nearby whereas dogs were known to be smart and trained as ninja partners and thus watched for constantly. To be able to use them as spies, messengers, and saboteurs would be a massive advantage especially since no genjutsu was involved and thus made them even more undetectable. The most recent fight had given many people the idea of using pirates in place of ninjas or at least having them as a second option.

This next match would show off the first undead creature from Nexus in a fight, though what type was up in question. Axel was considered a hybrid of banshee and zombie, but how he was created was still a mystery. The most anyone knew was that Zabel Raptor, his "father", had interrupted an experimental ritual that had caused the kid's creation. No one was sure what it was originally for, but a few rumors were that it had to do with a new type of undead creature. Needless to say, Axel was not the result they were looking for, but that didn't bother Zabel or Axel in the least

**Round 5 – Axel Raptor VS Misumi Tsurugi**

Misumi stood in front of the darkstalker who appeared human. Other than his purple skin, dark blue hair, and white blank eyes he appeared normal, but he knew that was probably as far from the truth as possible. His opponent was dressed in black pants, with black steel-toed boots, black jacket with a skull on the back, dark purple shirt, and black fingerless gloves. On his back was also what appeared to be an ax with a long handle, but there was something weird about it that the disguised sound ninja could place. Then again, this entire tournament was weird.

Axel stood ready, his hand on his guitar/ax ready to attack. When Hayate called out begin, he whirled it around, bringing it to the front and immediately played a few fast notes, causing a wave of sound and energy to go streaming at Misumi in a _Riff Wave_. The Sound ninja jumped away, seeing similar attacks before He dashed around the sound attacks, getting in close. Before Axel could let loose another _Riff Wave_, Misumi immediately stretched his arms, wrapping them around Axel's and preventing him from doing anything. "Not bad mate, but what ya gonna do now?" he asked confidently. Being what he was, he had little to worry about in terms of physical attacks.

Misumi just smirked under his mask. "I'm gonna rip your arms off if you don't surrender," he threatened.

"You kidding? We're just getting started," Axel replied as he started to struggle against Misumi's elastic arms, reaching for his weapon.

Misumi continued to smirk as he started pulling against the Nexus ninja. It was now a tug of war between the two. It looked pretty even for a moment before Misumi stretched his arms a little more and put one foot on Axel's back, giving him some more pulling power. The sound ninja seemed to be winning, not noticing the devilish smirk on Axel's face. All of a sudden, Misumi went flying back as his arms snapped back like rubber. He, Hayate, and most of the people in stands were blinking in surprise. The stretchy ninja looked to see that he indeed had ripped both of Axel's arms off. What was disturbing was that there was no blood at all. The black masked Genin shook it off and stood up. "Well, looks like victory is mine," he said arrogantly as he turned around to leave, not bothering to wait for the examiner to call it.

However, he failed to notice as he turned that Axel ran up from behind and landed a kick right in the crotch, causing his body to stretch up with the kick. However, just because he could absorb the impact, doesn't mean it didn't hurt any less. Every male watching involuntarily winced as Misumi slowly regained his shape, turning towards a grinning, armless Axel. "Come on then, have at you!" he said jumping around a little with the sound ninja staring him in utter confusion.

"Are you insane?" Misumi asked in astonishment. He knew some ninja could be really tenacious but this was pushing it.

"Oh had enough ey mate?" Axel taunted as he attempted a roundhouse kick which Misumi dodged, still holding both his arms.

The black masked ninja scowled. "Look you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left!" he cried out holding up the two limbs.

"Yes I have," he immediately replied. His opponent just shook the arms, giving the impression of blatantly showing them. "It's just a flesh wound," he said cheekily as he seemed to stare at the opposing ninja. Before Misumi could do anything, Axel's arms came to life and immediately began choking him much to his surprise. In desperation, he flung both arms back at Axel, where they grabbed onto him and reattached themselves as if nothing had happened. "Well, that was a good opening number mate, but now it's time for the real show!" he cried out as he started to play his guitar, the sounds of several instruments all playing at the same time, creating a rock 'n' roll tune as chakra and the power of the Dark swirled around the undead Genin. He began to sing as the power increased, dark clouds gathering up high above. Wicked winds were blowing around, creating a small, localized hurricane.

They disappear right before my eyes  
all my dreams and the love of my life  
oh no I feel the shock and the danger  
no way can't find no love with a stranger  
war and peace you know  
there ain't no rules  
look out, it turns lovers to fools  
down on my luck  
now out of deep frustration  
I'm lost in desperation  
oh no, can't get enough of your show  
oh no, I don't know where to go

Dark purple lightning crackled through the black clouds above. Building in intensity as he continued to play and sing. Winds whipping around, blowing Misumi back and he tried to stand his ground. As Axel hit the refrain, the true intention of the song was realized.

Unchain the thunder,

Let the lightning strike  
Unchain the thunder,  
let the lightning strike tonight

Lightning ripped from Axel, striking at the black masked ninja who immediately dodged. More bolts of lighting streaked as he continued to play.

Feels so right when I'm in your spell  
let me know if it's heaven or hell  
oh, take a walk on the wild side  
come on in from the outside  
Gimme your way, control the situation,  
now I'm in a new creation  
oh no, can't get enough of your show  
oh no, I still don't know where to go

The winds swirled around the entire arena, adding dust and debris to the storm. The entire audience was either hanging on to keep from being blown away, covering their ears, or banging their heads in tune to the beat. A few fire type darkstalkers had even lit up their fingers and were waving them in tune as well.

Unchain the thunder,  
Let the lightning strike  
unchain the thunder, feels so right  
unchain the thunder, feed my appetite  
unchain the thunder;  
let the lightning strike tonight  
unchain the thunder!  
(Solo)

As he hit the solo, he raised the neck of the guitar to the sky, sending a bolt of lightning straight up into the clouds and calling down a rain of thunder bolts. Misumi dodged as best as he could, using his stretching ability to slingshot himself around the arena. Despite this, he was still being shocked badly as he couldn't dodge all the attacks. Finally his luck ran out as the electricity caught him.

unchain the thunder,  
let the lightning strike  
unchain the thunder, feels so right  
unchain the thunder, stay with me tonight  
unchain the thunder, feed my appetite  
unchain the thunder,  
let the lightning strike tonight  
walk on the wild side  
come on in from the outside  
let the lightning strike tonight

Axel finished the song with Misumi looking charbroiled and extra crispy but still alive. The crowds broke out into cheers as the zombie took a bow while the medical ninjas carried away his blackened opponent. Hayate sighed as he watched the darkstalker walk back up to the stands grinning like mad. The referee noticed that a few of the people who sat in the rows closest to the arena had their hair sticking straight out.

**Round 5 Winner – Axel Raptor**

'Well, a few burn marks is a little better than the other fights,' Hayate thought as he surveyed the damage before turning towards the waiting people. "Would Kin Tsuchi and Temari please come down to the arena,' he announced.

The two kunoichi walked down, each looking the other carefully, both confident in that they would win. However, both knew they had to play it cool for the upcoming operation. They couldn't reveal their full power yet or else it may spell disaster for them later, especially with these darkstalkers running around. However, even with the two of them holding back, Kin was at a disadvantage since Temari had much more experience and training then the younger Genin. This wasn't going to take too long.

**Round 6 – Kin Tsuchi VS Temari**

As soon as Hayate called out begin, Kin sent out a barrage of senbon needles at the sand ninja only to have them deviate way off course and either land a few feet away from her or simply drop to the ground. To the audience it looked as if the sand girl hadn't moved at all, well to the human audience anyway. Those with ninja training or who were inhuman had seen the girl draw something from her back and slashed at the needles before putting it back in its place. The black haired kunoichi narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what had just happened. She had seen the flash of movement just before her needles had gone amiss and could guess what had happened. Kin's opponent was from the land of wind, where they specialized in wind based jutsus. Naturally, throwing weapons like her needles would have little effect on a wind user. 'Guess I'll have to use something else,' she thought as she retreated to the few trees left standing.

Temari watched her carefully as the black-haired girl went into the forested area of the arena. She watched as the girl began to do hand seals and readied her fan just in case. Once the girl was done, she opened her mouth and began to scream. The sand ninja's eyes widened as she saw the very air warp with chakra from her attack. Temari dived out of the way as the wave impacted the wall behind her, cracking it and damaging it severely. 'Interesting jutsu; almost like a sound version of the _Grand Fireball _jutsu. Well, if she wants to kick it up a notch, then so will I,' the blonde thought as she unfolded her fan all the way. She watched as Kin readied another _Banshee Scream_ and reeled her fan back for her own attack. The sound ninja let loose another scream and Temari countered. "_Cutting Whirlwind!_" she cried as she sung her fan diagonally in front her, creating a massive blast of wind. The two air based attacks hit and unfortunately for Kin, Temari's won out. The black-haired girl was thrown violently back into the wall as both she and the surrounding foliage were ripped to shreds. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious from the assault.

**Round 6 Winner – Temari**

The medics removed the unconscious sound ninja from the arena as Temari calmly walked off with smug expression on her face. The crowd cheered, though not nearly as loud as some of the previous fights. Hayate watched as she left, glad that this fight hadn't been as … unusual as the others. In any case, he called down the two next fighters, Gaara of the Desert and Shiva Maximof. The two fighters in question came down in different ways. Gaara floated down on a cloud of sand while Shiva simply glided on her bat-like wings and didn't even touch the ground when she did. The referee looked between the two and gulped. 'This is not going to be pretty,' he thought to himself.

**Round 7 – Gaara of the Desert VS Shiva Maximof**

Gaara eyed the darkstalker that had plagued his thoughts for the past month. Ever since her initial introduction and lack of fear or disgust, he had been confused. He kept trying to find some reason for her actions and while deception was his first thought, he couldn't keep that look of sincerity she had shown when she had asked him to join her after the exams. Her revealing to be a darkstalker did explain her actions somewhat, but did not explain why she wasn't afraid of him or why she had approached him so easily. There was also that instant during the first exam where she had tried to kiss him. Gaara's mind had basically shut down at that moment and right now he couldn't forget it. Even Mother was curious about her and that never happened. In any case, the result would be the same. 'I will kill her and prove my existence,' he thought darkly with a twisted voice of his Mother Shukaku whispering words of death.

Shiva smiled coyly at her opponent. There was something interesting about him and she was going to find out what it was. In any case, she had a battle to win. The referee called for the match to begin and immediately she launched a _Soul Fist_ at her opponent. To her surprise and rising interest, a wall of sand erupted from the ground protecting him as he didn't even move. 'Curiouser and curiouser,' she thought with a grin as she took to the air with incredible speed. Gaara watched stoically as she did, wondering what useless attack she was try next. He got his answer when the wings on her back shifted into black, blade-ended tentacles and were all launched at him from multiple directions. He didn't move an inch as his sand sprang up to defend him. The black tentacles impacted the sand with incredible force, creating indentations where they hit. Through his connection with the sand, Gaara could feel the immense pressure exerted by them as they tried to break through.

He scowled slightly as his sand start to wrap around the tentacles and up to their source. Reacting quickly, Shiva retracted her tentacles and reformed them into her wings. Before she could think of a counter attack, she heard Gaara call out his own attack. "_Sand Shuriken!_" Multiple globs of sand were flying at her at high speeds from the moving sand around Gaara. Changing her wings into jets, she quickly dodged, doing incredible aerial maneuvers that almost resembled a graceful dance.

Deciding to go on the offensive, Shiva went straight down, her jets burning at maximum thrust, as she swooped towards Gaara like a dark falcon. Reacting quickly, his sand once again came up as a shield, however just before she hit she twisted in mid-air, going to the side and struck at him. His sand deflected the attack, but only at the very last second, finally breaking him out of his stone like state. Shiva kept attacking rapidly, constantly shifting her wings from jets to blades and back again to attack from all angles. Gaara's sand protected him, but only barely. Unlike before, the attack had been long range and he had seen it coming, making it easy to block. Now the attacks were at extreme close range and at high speed, giving his sand little time to react. The darkstalker kept pressing the attack until finally she got a clean hit, a powerful kick right to Gaara's face.

The Sand ninja went flying back, his living sand automatically following him. He skidded across the ground and came to a stop. However, Shiva knowing better than to let her opponent recover, launched another _Soul Fist_ at him. Like before, it was blocked by the sand as Gaara struggled to get up. Shiva's eyes widened at what she saw. Sand, plates of sand had fallen off where she had hit him. He was using his chakra to create an _Armor of Sand_. Shiva just smiled. 'What an interesting little tanuki,' she thought as she jetted at him for another assault. She was however, unprepared for what Gaara did next. His sand wrapped around his right arm and created a massive claw for lack of a better description, almost as big as Gaara himself. The sand also formed around the right side of his face, making that side looked like twisted raccoon. All the sand covered parts had black lines and the eye on the sand covered part of his face was black and yellow with a cross shaped pupil and four dots. Added to that was the aura of a darkstalker, a bestial one if she wasn't mistaken. All and all it was freaky looking. Shiva's smile widened. 'Very interesting indeed.'

Gaara snarled at the girl coming at him and dashed forward to meet her, much faster than she expected. He swung the massive sand claw down on top of her as she skidded to a halt. Reacting quickly she brought her wings up as a shield, blocking the attack and causing her to sink into the ground from the impact. The hybrid gritted her teeth as she struggled to maintain her shield. His strength had increased tremendously and she was shaking from the pressure he exerted on her. Looking at Gaara, she could see the insane glint in his eyes that she had seen before on certain darkstalkers. He wasn't aiming to win the match; he was aiming to straight out kill her. "Is this the best a darkstalker can do? I'm disappointed!" Gaara screamed as a massive tail formed at the base of gourde on his back. The tail whipped around and struck Shiva hard before she could react. She skidded across the ground a few times but quickly recovered and jetted away again as tentacles of sand came crashing towards her in waves.

Shiva immediately went skyward where the sand couldn't follow her, at least not easily. She weaved and dodged as the sand struck at her until finally the sand stopped coming at her and retreated back to Gaara who was now looking more crazed then ever. 'His sand allows him to attack and defend at the same time. Normal long range attacks won't cut it here. Looks like playtime is over,' she thought grimly. Her wings became jets again. The hybrid dashed down towards the tanuki and seemed to split in two, performing a _Darkness Illusion_. Both copies of Shiva attacked in perfect synchronicity as if they were mirror images of each other. Gaara attempted to block, but these attacks were even faster and more powerful then before, causing him to skid backwards from the force. She ended the relentless assault with a double _Soul Fist_ at point-blank range, hoping to do some major damage. It didn't.

"Wind Style: _Sandstorm Devastation!_" Gaara called out as a massive blast of wind and sand erupted from all over his body at once. Shiva was blown backwards head over heels by the gale force winds. Before she could right herself and counter, she was engulfed by his sand. "_Sand Coffin!"_ She couldn't move as it wrapped around her body, even with her superior strength. Her wings were pinned to her body, preventing her from morphing them into something. It was then she noticed that Gaara's form had shifted after using that sandstorm attack. Now both of his arms and whole upper body was covered in sand, making him look like a mutated raccoon or panda. "Now I will prove my existence! _Sand Burial!_" he cried out, causing the sand to constrict suddenly and powerfully.

In a flash, two streaks could be seen in the arena, one purple and the other yellow. The sand around Shiva exploded as the purple streak went by. At the same time, the yellow streak went right at Gaara. It all happened in a couple of seconds before the streaks stropped, revealing them to be Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. Hsien-Ko had destroyed the sand holding Shiva and was now holding her bridal style as she struggled to move. While she didn't get the full force of the attack, she had been constricted rather painfully and thus was sore all over. Mei-Ling on the other hand, stood in front of Gaara with a talisman pressed to his forehead with one hand and her other in some type of hand seal, chanting something lowly. Everything stood absolutely still for a moment before the talisman flashed and all the sand on and around Gaara fell to the ground lifeless revealing his face to be shocked. He suddenly collapsed to the ground unconscious, as if all his energy was spent, the talisman still stuck on his forehead. The stadium was silent as many of those from Sand held their breath as they seemed to wait for something to happen, but nothing did until … a noise broke the silence.

It took Temari and Kankuro, who both had been waiting for Shukaku to appear, a few moments to realize what the sound was. Snoring, Gaara was asleep and snoring … quite loudly actually. 'What the hell did she do!?' the Sand girl thought wildly. 'This shouldn't have happened, Shukaku should have manifested and started running amok by now. With him disabled like this, the plan had just lost a major part, this is not good,' she thought wildly. Shukaku was supposed to be a major part of their plans, but if he was disabled, that would severely weaken their invasion. In all her worry though, her mind jumped on something almost completely unrelated in order to dim her fear. 'Who knew my brother snored like a bear? Usually were running for our lives at this point, go figure.'

Hayate looked between the two combatants. One was asleep with some weird talisman on his forehead while the other looked to be having some trouble moving. Personally he would've called this a draw, but rules were rules and the girl's instructors had interfered on her behalf. "Due to interference, I declare Gaara of the Sand the winner," he announced.

**Round 7 Winner – Gaara**

There was very little cheering as the two fighters was taken from the arena, everyone muttering about what they had seen in the fight. Seeing darkstalkers transform radically was one thing, seeing someone who was supposedly human do it was another. Many of the darkstalkers in the crowd were wondering who that sand kid was and how he was able to generate a demonic aura like that. Morrigan Maximof was especially interested. While her daughter was far from weak, she had never faced an enemy quite like this and she was unable to transform as she was too young still. She would be able to transform just like Demitri given time, but not yet. In any case, that boy was ruthless, powerful, and apparently mentally unstable. 'A few visits with Alice and Mei-Ling would correct that quickly enough,' the succubus thought to herself. She was always on the look out for powerful darkstalkers either to be opponents in a glorious battle, to be allies, or both. More importantly, she had seen the way her daughter looked at the boy and she would be sooner join a convent and take a vow of chastity before she let anyone near her daughter without her approval. Sex was one thing, but a romantic interest was entirely another. Morrigan could see why her daughter had taken an interest in the boy; still she would watch the boy and see what came from it as well as try to keep her husband from doing anything … rash. She shook her head as the examiner called down the next two fighters.

"Would Shikamaru Nara and Jack Smith please come down to the arena?"

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Riff Wave:** A medium to long range sound attack. Usually played on an instrument of some type, the jutsu creates a massive wave of vibrations that can do serious damage to a target. The notes played and on what instrument can alter the jutsu extremely. A loud instrument, such as a horn of some kind, would make a wide blast while a smaller instrument such as a flute would make a smaller, but more concentrated blast. Generally, the blast created by a guitar is considered the standard for this jutsu. It is used by anyone who uses musical instruments in their fighting style. This jutsu is also effective in water but can be countered with wind style jutsu.

**Unchain the Thunder:** A long range attack song jutsu. The user plays the song while channeling lightning element chakra, using the song as a control to direct it. This attack has a wide area of effect and requires excellent control in order to direct the lightning correctly not to mention good musical ability in order to play the song itself. If the song is interrupted one of two things will happen; either jutsu will cancel or the lightning will run wild until it wears off. (AN: This song belongs to Axel Rudi Pell and does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form. I am merely using it as a plot device and because I think it fits nicely with the character, since that is where I got the idea for him.)

**Banshee Scream:** Another long range sound jutsu. With this jutsu, the user concentrates chakra into their vocal chords and emits an ear piercing scream. Like the Riff Wave, the voice doing the jutsu can have an effect on what it's capable of. This jutsu requires near perfect chakra control due to the fact that if it is not done correctly it may severely damage the user's vocal chords. Like most sounds based jutsu, it is very effective in water but can be countered with wind. This jutsu is used by Sound ninja, those who specialize in sound attacks, and, obviously, banshees (to possibly be defined in a later entry).

**Cutting Whirlwind:** A long mid to long range attack usually using some type of fan, this jutsu can create concentrated gusts of wind mixed with chakra, creating a windstorm that slices through objects in a targeted area. It is possible to control the windstorm with chakra, allowing the user to catch opponents in slicing tornadoes. This jutsu can also be used to counter thrown weapons and sound based attacks.

**Sand Shuriken:** This is a long range jutsu where the use throws shuriken made from sand. Unlike regular shuriken, these are merely fast-moving balls of sand that cause blunt trauma, not actual wounds. They are thrown much faster than regular shuriken; therefore, the pain caused can be considerable. Currently, only Gaara and certain species of earth type darkstalkers who live in the desert can perform this attack.

**Armor of Sand:** Using this jutsu, the user can cover them self in a compacted layer of sand, providing an additional defense. Though quite effective, maintaining the armor requires a large amount of chakra and stamina. Furthermore, it is not very resilient since it easily breaks away upon impact, meaning that the sole purpose of the Armor is to absorb impact channeled unto user's body during battle. It is currently used by Gaara and earth type darkstalkers who live in the desert.

**Darkness Illusion:** This is a unique jutsu used mostly by the demon aristocracy, specifically those related to the Aensland family. The technique is similar to the Shadow Clone in that the user splits their chakra between two beings. However, unlike the Shadow Clone, this technique doesn't simply create a copy of the user; it literally splits them into two mirror images, both controlled by the same mind. Each image can do any technique or move that the original could do, however the total energy each image has is half of the original and any damage one image takes, both take. Also as a result of the images being controlled by the same mind, it is like trying to do two things at once from two slightly different points of view. Thus this jutsu can only be sustained for so long before the user has to remerge the images back into the original. NOTE: This technique was originally developed to help the Aensland clan seduce prey by "doubling the fun" as it were.

**Sandstorm Devastation:** This is a mid range jutsu where the user creates a blast of wind and sand that can devastate an enemy or a large area. It is generally used by wind users, earth users, and some of those who live in the desert.

**Sand Coffin:** This technique is used by any with sufficient ability to control sand. The user encases the opponent(s) in a large amount of the special chakra-infused sand, immobilizing them. It can be used to suffocate an opponent but can be used in preparation for a deadlier technique such as the _Sand Burial._

**Sand Burial:** After wrapping an opponent with sand, the user will cause the sand to implode and crush whatever is within. When used to kill a person, the death is so quick that there isn't even time to feel pain, usually. The pressure also produces a sizable fountain of blood. The user can control the pressure used in the attack, which allows them to merely break bones or completely liquefy an opponent.

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Demon**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid Shifter**

**Succubae:** Succubae are, in the most basic of terms, female humanoid sex demons. Like catwomen, this race is composed of just women and has existed for some time. It is unknown where or when succubae first appeared, though they have been a constant problem for humanoid species since ancient times. Humans, their main source of "food", generally regard succubae with extreme caution, mostly due to the fact that it can be hard for people to identify a succubus if she wants to remain hidden. The reason for this is that succubae have the ability to shift their appearance to match any humanoid race in order to seduce their target. Generally, their "normal" form is that of a beautiful human woman with bat wings coming out of their lower back with a smaller pair coming out of the top of their head. The wings on their backs can shift to anything the succubus wants and is limited only by the succubus's power and imagination. However, only their wings can shift like this, their main body cannot unlike other species such as Netherleafs, which is why they are classified as humanoid shifters instead of humanoid morphs.

Like vampires, succubae need to feed on other creatures in order to survive. But while vampires feed on blood, it is generally said that the Succubus race absorbs the soul of the opposite human sex and uses it as their own energy source. This fact is true but incomplete. While they do feed on souls of human males, they are not limited to males nor are they limited to any one humanoid species, though many succubae have a preference of species and/or souls just like vampires do. The succubae that live in the Aensland family are slightly different in that they have an additional source of nourishment for when prey is scarce. They create a special secretion liquid in their body when they are either physically or mentally stimulated, usually through sex or combat. They use this liquid to maintain their life when they are unable to properly feed on another being. If one were to be trapped inside a small secluded area, she would die within a week due to the lack of stimulus and prey.

This is because the liquid needed to maintain her life can't be secreted without an outside stimulus. But to make up for this, they have become able to look into the dreams of others. When no stimulus was given, they evolved to look for other ways to look for excitement. No one is sure how they evolved this though many suspect an ancestor of theirs was a hybrid with a creature that was also able to feed on dreams. When a creature dreams, a special secretion liquid is formed in the brain. A succubus can take this liquid from the outside. Those who have been robbed of their dreams feel a strange feeling, as if ones dream was completely taken away. This is quite different from not having any memory of a dream; it is like you never dreamed at all. The dream liquid is then processed just the same as a soul would be. Unfortunately, there have been cases where a member of the Aensland family had fed on a particular being's dreams repeatedly, driving that person into insanity as a result, hence why they are careful not to become "addicted" to one person's dreams.

It is a commonly known fact that succubae are the longstanding archetype of sex demons. They are able to entrance just about all but the most holy, willful, or stubborn-ass humanoids in existence. Their blood, saliva, aura, and energy all have a powerful mind-altering effect that they use to ensnare their prey in a haze of lust and passion. They do this to weaken the target's will and resistance so they can extract the soul as intact as possible and with as little danger to themselves as possible.

The succubus race lives on average about 600 years. Roughly ten years after they are born, they gain their adult appearance and keep this beautiful form until they die. Hybrids, though rare, tend to take after their which ever parent ages the slowest in this area. Their beautiful appearance is kept intact even when they are old and on their deathbed. Over the past several hundred years, their ability to reproduce has been in danger due to their very nature. With the degradation of the Lost Zone while they were still there, it had become more and more difficult to reach a good amount of nutrition. As a result, when Nexus was founded there were roughly only 300 succubae left. At this rate, the succubus race would disappear after one or two generations. However Morrigan Maximof, the current leader of the succubae, has foreseen this and already research is underway to counter this problem. Several methods of impregnation have been discovered and testing has already begun. Surprisingly, succubae nowadays make excellent mothers in that like all female demons, they are extremely protective of their young, even going as far as to kill their own mates to do so in some rare cases.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 30: Shadow Games

Shikamaru sighed as he made his way down to the arena. He really wished he didn't have to fight, but if he didn't then Ino would yell at him for some time, troublesome woman. Just as troublesome was the fact that he was going up against one of these darkstalkers. 'The only reason I'm doing this is because Ino would have my head, troublesome woman,' he thought as he looked over at his opponent Jack Smith. The guy was about his height and dress in black boots, black pants, black overcoat with a hood, black mask, and black sunglasses, all with a neon blue trim. In short, you couldn't see any distinguishing characteristics of the guy. It was like looking at an even more secretive and stoic version of an Aburame in black.

Up in the stands Orochimaru in the guise of the Kazekage thought deeply of what was to come. While he too had darkstalkers on his side, the sand brat was supposed to be their main offensive weapon in the invasion. With him now disabled and snoring like a bear, he may have to rework his strategy a little bit. He wrote down a message and quietly passed it to one of his guards. The note was for Bishamon to make a slight change in the attack plans. 'If I can't use one demon then I'll simply use another,' the snake sannin thought gleefully as he looked down to watch the next match up.

Jack stood casually as he surveyed his opponent. He had heard about this Shikamaru Nara, a shadow user, similar to himself but different in style. 'Well, we'll see how things turn out,' he thought casually to himself. He glanced at the crowd, taking it all in. 'I wonder if I could sketch this later,' the wraith mused to himself before turning to Hayate how called for the beginning of the match.

**Round 8 – Shikamaru Nara VS Jack Smith**

Jack started out immediately, shifting three of his fingers, the pointer, middle, and thumb to be exact, in a _Shadow Spear_ attack. Shikamaru dodged as the extensions sailed past him and into the wall, creating three perfect holes where they pierced. The wraith quickly retracted them and launched another _Shadow Spear_ attack using the three same fingers on his other hand. Again, the Leaf Genin dodged. Jack kept alternating hands, using the attack again and again, forcing Shikamaru to dodge and move backwards. Shikamaru on the other hand was unable to use his signature _Shadow Possession_ due to the fact that Jack was keeping too far away, at least half the arena length, and his fingers were moving too fast for him to hit with his technique, hence he was forced to dodge. This continued until finally, Shikamaru found himself with his back to the wall in the west side shadow. "Got you," Jack announced as he launched all ten of his fingers in a _Shadow Spear_ attack. All ten spears came right at him, only to stop about a foot away from their intended target.

"_Shadow Possession jutsu,_ success," Shikamaru announced as he took an identical position to Jack; his hands forward with his fingers spread. On the ground the audience could see Shikamaru's shadow had extended in front of him, split in two and merged with Jack's. "It looks like we have a stalemate here. You can't move thanks to my jutsu and I can't move cause if I do it'll break the jutsu," Shikamaru said confidently with a smirk. However, his face fell when he heard the wraith chuckling.

Jack chuckled for a moment before speaking. "Under normal circumstances you'd be correct. However, what about this tournament so far has been normal?" he asked casually as his body seemed to blur. Shikamaru's eyes widened as the shadow wraith seemed to melt into his own shadow. The Nara could still feel him through the jutsu, but he had completely disappeared. He searched all over with his eyes until he suddenly felt his jutsu give way as the connection was cut. Immediately Shikamaru dodged forward as a large black and blue hammer came down on the spot where he had been a moment before. He dodged again as a black and blue anvil came down, creating a small shockwave where it landed. Shikamaru countered by launching some kunai at Jack. The wraith stretched and twisted as if made of rubber but only at the last second did he see the paper bombs attached to the weapons. "Oh crap," he muttered just before they went off as they flew past him.

Shikamaru smirked as the bombs went off knowing that all they did was by him some time until the darkstalker recovered. He had to think quickly. Dealing with a human opponent was one thing, dealing with a darkstalker was entirely another. He placed his hand in front of him with each finger touching its counterpart, thumb to thumb, pointer to pointer, etcetera in what looked like a strange hand seal. This was the position he always took when he needed to plan his next few moves. As he contemplated on how to beat his opponent, Jack reformed himself after the explosions.

While the bombs hadn't done and real physical damage, they had literally blown him to bits, forcing him to use up a good amount of energy in order to reform him self quickly. The wraith looked up to see the Leaf ninja just sitting there with his hands in that odd position. 'I don't know what he's doing, but it can't be good,' he thought as he dashed forward. The crowd watched in anticipation as the shadow wraith quickly came up to Shikamaru, swinging his leg in a wide arc kick, morphing it into a spiked ball-and-chain as he did so. At the last moment just as it was about to hit, Shikamaru jumped away.

The Nara had a plan, albeit a crazy one, but it was all he had at the moment. Shikamaru continued to dodge as Jack kept using his _Smash Hits_ to try and strike him down. As he dodged he started to through kunai with paper bombs attached to them. However, unlike the first volley, these didn't go off and instead simply stood in the ground like proximity mines. Jack twisted and turned like a loony toon in a taffy machine, avoiding the kunai and their explosive payload as much as possible. Once Shikamaru had through a certain number of kunai, he started doing hand seals again. Jack backed away, noticing that these hand seals were different from the first time. Shikamaru quickly completed them and suddenly his shadow shot forward again. "_Shadow Sewing!" _he called out as tentacles erupted out of his shadow and went for Jack, forcing him on the defensive.

The shadow wraith dodged the tentacles as best he could. Unlike the kunai, these things were as flexible as he was and thus forced him back. There was also the issue of the kunai that Shikamaru had thrown and were now acting like mines. The darkstalker knew that if he got just a little too close to them then he would set them off and blow himself to bits again. If he had to reform himself after that then he would be out of energy and out of luck. Moving back good distance, he suddenly stopped. He had been caught in the Leaf ninja's _Shadow Possession_ technique again. 'Why did he do this? He knows I can just merge into the shadow and attack again,' Jack wondered to himself before looking down. 'Oh, that's why,' he thought as he noticed the connection between his shadow and Shikamaru's. All along the connection were the kunai he had thrown earlier. They were all in a line exactly where the shadow connection was. If Jack merged with the shadow he would set them off and he would take the full force of the blast. Jack looked up at Shikamaru and locked eyes; they both knew the same thing, stalemate. If Jack merged with the shadow, he'd be blasted to bits, and if Shikamaru did anything to move Jack from his current position, it might give the wraith the opportunity he needed to attack.

The two stood stock still until Shikamaru began to raise his hand and subsequently so did Jack. Everyone watched with baited breath, wondering what the lazy genius would do. "Proctor, I give up," he said, causing everyone watching to face fault. Jack blinked a few times wondering just what exactly happened.

Shikamaru sighed before explaining his actions, knowing he was going to get hell from Ino later. "I've thought this through ten moves ahead but I simply don't have the chakra to finish it, maybe a few more minutes but that's it. Besides, continuing in this tournament with all these darkstalkers is simply too troublesome," he said simply as he released his jutsu, though Jack stayed in place for a few moments other than blinking a few times. Hayate had to call it.

**Round 8 Winner – Jack Smith**

Both Jack and Shikamaru walked back up to the stands, though Shikamaru was a little more reluctant considering the murderous look on Ino's face. Jack went over to Leon, Verity-Y, and their instructor Suzuka. "That was a good match, you and that Nara guy were pretty even," Verity said cheerfully.

Suzuka nodded with a small smile. "Indeed. You used your abilities well," she said simply which was how she usually was. She spoke simply but it was usually something worth listening too.

Leon nodded but didn't say anything. He had been going through each of the fights mentally, working out strategies against everyone as they fought. That Nara guy might've posed some competition for him mentally if he hadn't forfeited. He had seen what the Nara had been up to the moment he started throwing those kunai. They had all been in an odd pattern and immediately he had deduced the Nara's plan considering what had happened the first time he had used his _Shadow Possess_ move. Now though, he only had to worry about how to take down the various abilities of those remaining and the possible mental abilities of the future Leaf and Sound ninja who hadn't competed yet. He himself was going up against Hanabi, Amethyst's little sister by blood. If she was anything like that Neji character in terms of style, then Leon wouldn't have any problem. However, if Amethyst had shown her anything, then he might be in for a real fight. He would just have to wait and see. 'In any case, the next match should be real interesting. Anita is going up and she's far from a pushover,' he thought as he watched the proctor call down the next two fighters.

Both Kabuto and Anita Blaine walked down to the arena, Anita with no discernable expression and Kabuto with a simple grin. The Sound spy had originally planned to forfeit at the last minute, but decided against it as he was curious to go up against a darkstalker himself, though he wasn't sure if Anita was one or not. In fact according to what little information he was able to gather, no one knew exactly what she was, not even her own adopted father. They were also tight-lipped on her abilities, most just saying that she was a sorceress and priestess prodigy, though Kabuto wasn't sure what that meant. A lot of information about Nexus and its people was closely guarded until recently when they revealed themselves here at the Chunin Exams. Even his allies in Bishamon's forces were keeping quiet on what they all were capable of.

**Round 9 – Anita Blaine VS Kabuto**

Hayate kept his distance as he started the match. Anita unfurled her beads, taking a stance and started to twirl them around above her head, her face betraying no emotion. Kabuto stood his ground, considering the best way to attack. Judging from how she was wielding those beads, trying to get in close would not be a good idea. He may have been an expert in _Chakra Scalpels_ but they did no good if he couldn't get close to his target. Instead, he started to do hand seals before slamming his hand to the ground. "_Rock Pillar Prison" _he cried as pillars of rock erupted from the arena. The entire area became a forest of rock spires, blocking the two combatants from both each other's view as well as the view of most of the audience.

Anita immediately retracted her beads as the pillars sprouted up so that she wouldn't hit any of them. These pillars made it so that her normal bead attacks would be useless. All Kabuto would need to do would be to dodge behind a pillar and her whip-like attacks would be screwed up. 'Just as well, I prefer spells and ninjutsu anyway,' she thought as she took a stance similar to what her father Donovan would take, her eyes taking on a faint glow as she readied to use her elemental attacks. Like her father, she was able to channel elemental spirits for devastating attacks, though hers took on much different forms then his. Her father's tended to be human or humanoid while hers were a vast assortment of creatures. No one was quite sure what that was, but Anita had long ago decided to just roll with it. Problem was that she could only use low level spirits while her father commanded extremely powerful ones. Still, she'd make due.

Kabuto cautiously maneuvered around the rock pillars. While the girl couldn't use her bead whip to its full effectiveness, there was no telling what else she was capable of, especially after seeing what some of those previous darkstalkers were capable of. The medic ninja readied his _Chakra Scalpels _when he saw Anita's beads form a shape around her, a four-pointed star. Each of the beads was spinning with energy, creating small saw blades that were rotating in various directions. 'What's this?' he thought only to get his answer a second later as a Anita's eyes blazed a gray color and a massive phantom creature appeared above her. It looked like a massive, metallic scorpion with spikes on its pincers and instead of a sting at the end of its tail, there was a large axe-like blade. Both the red-haired girl and the scorpion moved in unison as she swung her hand, the arachnid swung its tail, slicing a number of rock pillars in front of it. The angle of the slash caused the pillars to fall forward, crashing into and taking out more pillars. Luckily for Kabuto, he was to her right side and slightly behind her or else he might've been caught in that slash. However, that bit of relief vanished when she and the scorpion moved again, this time slashing the pillars to her left. His eye's widened behind his glasses as he realized what she was doing. 'She's systematically tearing down the pillars in order to get to me. Simple, but effective. However, it will take more than that to beat me,' he thought as he dashed out of her vision.

Anita continued to take down the pillars, hoping to flush out her opponent. Maintaining her elemental spirits wasn't too hard, but the actual summoning of some of them took a god deal of energy. In any case, she was about to chop down another area of pillars when she sensed something directly behind her. Immediately, she dispelled her blade scorpion spirit and redirected her beads in a criss-cross behind her, blocking Kabuto's attempt to disable her with his _Chakra Scalpels_. Her face was emotionless as she repelled him away, forcing Kabuto back as she took out a pair of daggers given to her by Hsien-Ko. While nowhere near as powerful as her father's or even some of the Kuang-shi's weapons, they did have small indents in them that allowed for her beads to attach and allow her to control them in a manner similar to the way her father controlled Dhylec. Immediately she launched her attack, a combination of mentally controlled blades that moved in the air with her and her own taijutsu. While nowhere near as proficient as her comrades, she was capable enough to stand on her own. However, as she attacked, her opponent seemed to easily maneuver away from her strikes and from her blades. 'He is more skilled then he lets on. Not good,' she thought as she continued her assault though none of her attacks were getting through.

Their dance continued around the edge of the little clearing that Anita had cleared. She knew in the rock pillars she would be an easy target as she was not made for close quarters. On the other hand, Kabuto kept dodging behind the pillars but knew that if he hid behind them too long she would summon that scorpion thing again and start chopping them down. So he dodged behind them and then attacked since she was unwilling to follow him deeper into the pillars. Anita's beads also proved to balance the two of them. Whenever Kabuto got close enough with his _Chakra Scalpels_, Anita's beads would form a barrier on that specific attack point, making it so neither could attack without giving the other an opening. Worst was that the enclosed area was also working against Anita in that she couldn't get the distance or moment necessary to attack with one of her spells, putting her on mostly defensive. This continued with neither gaining any ground until Anita got an odd idea, taking a page from Naruto's book.

The young sorceress shinobi used her beads to force Kabuto back just long enough for her to make her move. She ran to the opposite edge of the clearing, then jumped and ran to the top of one of the pillars there, putting enough distance between her and her opponent. Immediately her beads surrounded her in a perfect circle and lit themselves on fire. Above her appeared another elemental spirit, this one human shaped, dressed in European knight-like armor with a long cape and plates of armor running down its arms. (AN1) Both Anita and the spirit raised their arms and massive amounts of flame gathered in the spirit's hands. Kabuto's eyes widened behind his glasses as both she and the spirit flung their hands downward, sending a massive blast of fire and heat that was quickly filling up the entire arena. Having no choice, the undercover sound ninja jumped up to the top of the pillars in order to avoid the blaze. 'That was too close,' he thought as he felt the heat from the flames below him. However, it was then he realized exactly where he was and, given what he'd just seen, who he was dealing with. "Oh shit," he muttered just before he got hit by a massive blast of fire. Even though his _Pre-Healing Jutsu_ prevented a lot of damage, Kabuto knew it was time to take a fall and get on with the operation.

**Round 9 Winner – Anita Blaine**

Anita's face was still as blank as ever, but she did allow a small smile of satisfaction at seeing Kabuto getting picked up by the medical ninja instead of falling into the inferno below her. The elemental spirit faded as exhaustion set in. Summoning that elemental spirit took a good amount of chakra out of her. Still, she waited patiently as the inferno she created was put out through the use of various water jutsus, much to the displeasure of her teammate who was roasting mimmoths on a stick. 'You would think he would get sick of those things by now,' she thought wearily though with a small smile on her face. Oh well, Naruto was Naruto, simple as that.

People up in the stands cheered for the girl's victory while many were shocked at what they saw, mostly those not from Nexus. Many from Nexus knew of Donovan's elemental spirits and knew his daughter would use them as well. Everyone else on the other hand, was stunned at what she had done. They had seen summons before, but not like this. Usually summons were separate creatures, allies a ninja could bring out when needed for various purposes. These summons however seemed to be more of an extension of Anita herself rather than a separate entity. Many were curious as to what else they were capable of. In the mean time, Hayate called down Sakura and Ino for the next round, though many of those from Nexus decided this was intermission time and went to get some snacks.

**Round 10 – Sakura Haruno VS Ino Yamanaka **

The two girls squared off in a simple taijutsu match using academy style while most people were busy with other things. In the stands, many were talking about the next match after the current one. Kurenai turned to Anko who downed another mimmoth with ease. "So who do you think will win in the next match?" the genjutsu mistress asked her serpentine companion.

Another mimmoth went squealing down Anko's throat, causing Kurenai to turn a little green, before she spoke. "Honestly, I don't know. Sure Sasuke has the Sharingan, but I'm not sure how much good that'll do him against someone who isn't human. Plus Naruto is one devious little bastard, if you knew some of pranks he's pulled in Nexus …" she trailed off, leaving it to the imagination of the Leaf Jonin. Both shivered at that thought. That blonde kid had pulled some elaborate pranks when he was still in the village. There was no telling what he was capable of now. Anko also had a point about Naruto not being human any more. The Sharingan was known for predicting moves, copying abilities, and messing with people's minds, but like the half-naga said, there was no telling what it would do to someone who wasn't human.

With the Hyuugas, there was some serious talk about what there were going to do about the darkstalker issue. Their Gentle Fist style was designed to use on humans and while it might be effective against inhuman creatures, the fact was that there was no guarantee it would. There was also the matter of Amethyst, AKA Hinata. The Hyuuga elders were practically demanding that Hiashi reclaim the girl, but it wasn't that simple, especially after what Anko had told him about Ruby. 'She will not give up without a fight and if I try to force the issue, the whole clan may suffer extinction,' the Hyuuga clan head thought dejectedly. He did however have a plan to get the girl to stay. 'I need to get her to want to stay. Perhaps showing her the benefits of being with a clan? If not that, perhaps Hanabi could help,' he thought to himself as he glanced to his youngest daughter. Hiashi knew the two were starting to form a bond and that Hanabi really wanted her sister to stay. 'That may be the key to getting Hinata to stay as well,' he thought as he turned his attention back to the match as it ended with in a double knockout.

**Round 10 Winner – Tie**

The two girls were cleared out as Hayate looked over the damage of the arena, what was left of it anyways. In any case, it was time to call down the next two fighters for the match that many had been waiting for. "Would Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Talbain please come down to the arena for your match," he called out. The two Genin in question looked at each other, one with a glare and the other with a mischievous grin. This was going to be fun.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Shadow Spear:** A long range attack used by humanoid morphs. While the name varies, the execution is the same. The user basically elongates their fingers extremely rapidly while also sharpening the points, effectively making them like their namesake.

**Shadow Possession jutsu:** This technique's original purpose is to delay pursuers in order for a team to flee. With the use of a hand seal, the user can stretch a shadow up to twice the length of all of the shadows the projected "shadow" touches combined. If a target is captured within the user's shadow, the result is that the two combatants will mirror each others' movements. Therefore, the two can throw shuriken at each other at the same time if the user desires that. The major downside of this technique is that it is tiring to use repeatedly.

**Shadow Sewing:** The Shadow Sewing Technique is a technique unique to the Nara Clan. The user first extends his shadow then creates shadow tendrils from that extended shadow. The tendrils can serve various purposes such as attacking or binding an opponent and/or attacking multiple targets

**Smash Hits**: A close range technique used by humanoid morphs. What this technique does is basically allows them to instinctively transform the user's arms and/or legs into various weapons/objects when attacking to increase damage. These can range from hammers, to axes, to drills, to even cymbals to crush an opponent's head (also known affectionately as full-metal-earmuffs). NOTE: Smash Hits will vary from user to user based on personality and style.

**Chakra Scalpels:** This is a short range multipurpose technique that can heal wounds and perform surgery. To heal with the ability, users collect chakra to their hand to speed up cell regeneration wherever it is applied. For the latter, the user focuses their chakra into a blade to make cuts where necessary, though because the blade is made of chakra the flesh is never cut. This aspect of the ability can be used in combat, though it requires great precision to be effective. When utilized in combat it allows the user to sever their opponent's muscle fibers or their chakra circulatory system at the point of contact.

**Rock Pillar Prison:** This jutsu allows the user to bring a large amount of rock pillars up from under the ground. They can then control them to surround their opponent and create a bamboo-like thicket of stone pillars.

**Pre-Healing Jutsu:** This is an internal technique allows the user to concentrate their chakra to a prepared area on their body and begin the cell recreation process the very moment the targeted area becomes damaged. However, it should be noted that this technique can only do so much and may not be able to negate all the damage inflicted if the attack was powerful enough.

**DARK TOME:**** Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Created**

**Sub Type:**** Varies**

**Wraiths:** Wraiths are, for lack of a nicer description, the lesser cousins of elementals and thus share many of the same qualities. Like elementals, wraiths are embodiments of various aspects of the universe. However, unlike elementals, wraiths are only limited to physical characteristics and they tend to be rarer then elementals. This is due to how they are initially formed. Unlike elementals, which are formed due to a major event, wraiths are formed over time when a specific physical aspect of the universe is repeatedly charged with or affected by supernatural or unnatural energy. A good example of this is when a wizard constantly practices fire magic using the same fire source. Over time, the residue from that magic will build up in and around that source and eventually give the fire life similar to that of a newborn. This is the main difference between elementals and wraiths and results in other differences as well. Incidentally, this is also why many spell users are such neat-freaks, they don't want to have to deal with new born wraiths popping up out of their equipment.

Another difference between the two is that while elementals are born fully formed, wraiths grow over time, continuing to draw in more energy to make them selves grow. As this happens they also learn just like a new born human would. Though they do have instincts just like elementals do, they are much less able to act on them when they are born and thus have to learn in order to survive. Another difference that results from them having to grow over time is that wraiths tend to have less power than elementals but far more control due to their increased intelligence. This aspect allows them to be even more dangerous than elementals simply because they can use strategy whereas elementals are all instinct.

There is also an odd side effect that occurs due to how wraiths are formed. Because the source of energy that creates them usually comes from a sentient creature, the wraith tends to take on the appearance and the personality aspect of whomever or whatever the source is. Even their base instincts may be altered due to this. For example, if a fire wraith was born due to a blacksmith creating a number of mystical objects, then that fire wraith would take a same overall shape as the blacksmith and would want to use fire to create things rather then simply consume things as a fire elemental would. Studies are being done on wraiths to learn more, though there are very few wraiths in existence currently. There weren't that many to begin with in the Lost Zone and there are even less in Nexus, only around 150 or so. Still, their numbers are slowly rising due to the fact that they have proven useful in various areas. More research is still required to unlock their full potential.

AN1: For those wanting a better idea of the spirits Anita used, look up images of "Needle Burrower" and "Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch" from Yugioh. I'll be using more monsters for her spirits later as I find they fit rather well for what I have planned.

AN: This chapter was hard mostly because I wasn't sure how to write the fight between two shadow users. Also in regards to Kabuto using the Rock Pillar technique, when I looked up info on him, I noticed he already had a few Earth jutsu in his arsenal so I figured he would be an Earth user as it seemed to fit.

I would also like to address a recent review I got from Warslasher who apparently had a problem with me being "too nice to Konoha" in my story here. First, he/she pointed out that only a handful of people were nice to Naruto. That is true but what do you expect him or Nexus to do about it? Go to war over how one person was treated months/years ago when they are just trying to establish themselves in a completely new world after leaving a dying one? Doesn't that sound just a little ridiculous? The last thing Nexus needs is to go up against all the other Elemental Nations in an all out war because even with darkstalkers they'd be grossly outnumbered and wouldn't have the resources to do so. Considering how badly demon containers are usually treated, it's not too much of a stretch to think that they would temporarily unite in order to destroy a demon nation if it was considered a threat. The reason they are allying with Konoha is because they know a bit more about their leader and have "inside info" about how the village operates and need to appear less like rampaging monsters and more like intelligent beings. Plus, Naruto was raised by Felicia who, according to both the darkstalker Anime and comics, has also been abused by humans and yet forgives them. Felicia is also able to convince Jon Talbain that not all humans are bad, despite having it far worse than her. I figure if he's raised by her then that attitude has to have rubbed off. I would also like to point out that Naruto hasn't helped or harmed Konoha; he's pretty much indifferent to it and is only there to help convince the Hokage and Council that Nexus can be allied with as well as visit with some old friends and is not an "abused puppy who keeps wanting to protect its abusive owner".

It was also mentioned that because Konoha protected Gato that Nexus should automatically hate them. The reason the Hokage protected Gato was to gain information about what was going on in Wave/Nexus at the time, not because he actually cared about the little bastard. In the world of ninja, you very likely have to do things you're not going to agree with in order to reach your higher goals and considering the weird stuff going on in Wave/Nexus any information would've been welcomed. Besides, who's to say they wouldn't have killed the creep later themselves? There was also mention of have the Ichiraku owner, his daughter, and Iruka move to Nexus since they were nice to Naruto. While they might do this in the future, keep in mind that they only learned that darkstalkers were real in the past few months at most in the story. Imagine the culture shock of moving from a normal (relatively speaking) village to a place like Atum-Coma. Even if they were immediately offered to go, what reason do they have to do so, really? Would you basically pick up your life and move to a completely unknown and strange place simply because a friend asked you to? Again they might in the future, but that's if they have good enough reason.

Lastly, if you don't like how I write my story, then don't read it. I'm not making you read it and if you don't like my "unhealthy obsession with being nice to Konoha even though there is no reason whatsoever to do so" then that's your problem, not mine. For the rest of those who have reviewed and liked what I've written, thank you for your support.

Please Read and Review.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 31: Endless Battle Game

Everyone in the stands eagerly watched as the two combatants walked down to the arena. The crowd was divided and bets were being taken all over. Those from Nexus were betting heavily on Naruto while Leaf residents and many nobles and merchants were betting on the Uchiha to win, though there were many exceptions. Iruka, Ayame, and Teuchi were betting for Naruto as well as a few discreet ninjas who weren't to enthusiastic about the Sasuke's attitude or the council's favoring of him. This was going to be an important match for everyone as it was pitting a human prodigy with a bloodline against a highly unique and powerful darkstalker. Many future missions depended on this in the sense of where people would go to have them completed.

The two combatants in question were down in the middle of the arena staring each other down. Sasuke stood in the stance Kakashi had taught him, his Sharingan already active, trying to intimidate his opponent though it wasn't doing much good. Naruto on the other hand was in his half form; grinning a big fox grin as he stood in a modified Cat Scratch style stance, bouncing slightly as he was just raring to go. He had been looking forward to this and was going to give it his all, mostly because if he didn't Alice would tan his hide. He shivered at that memory.

**FLASHBACK START**

Naruto walked down to the ramen shop after the training with the old pervert and the blueberry. He honestly couldn't wait until this was all over and he could go home. Konoha was nice enough, but he didn't really care for this village. He needed the insanity of Atum-Coma and the fun that came with it. He also had most of his prank supplies back home due to his parents forcing him to leave it all behind. 'Oh well, I'll get my revenge sooner or later,' he though gleefully, his tails swishing in excitement at the ideas floating through his head, one of which involved time released laxatives, remote controlled water-proof cherry bombs, a large sound system, a blueprint of the plumbing in Hokage tower, and the 1812 overture, you figure it out. However, his mental planning of revenge was interrupted by a firm hand grabbed his shoulder.

The kitsune quickly turned around, surprised that someone had been able to sneak up on him only to have his eyes widen and his face pale. In front of him stood a tall woman with dark, almost black hair, pale skin, and a pair of emerald eyes that looked like they could draw in your soul and rip it apart all while you enjoyed it. In front of him was Alice, Head Doctor as the Asylum, and a certified madwoman by everyone, including Alice her self. She was one of the few humans in Nexus who was truly feared all over, assuming she was human. The jury was still out on that one. Personally, Naruto wondered if she was an insanity elemental or something weird like that. "Now then Mr. Talbain, I wish to have a word with you about your upcoming match with the Uchiha boy," she said calmly. Naruto gulped and nodded. "I would like you to use all of your power in the match, give no quarter understand?" she asked simply.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, slightly confused. "Well yeah, I'm not going to go easy on him if that's what you mean," he said unsure. Did Alice actually expect him to go easy on Sasuke just because he was human? Not likely. For one thing, Leon, Anita, Amy, and Ruby would kick his ass on principle for giving a handicap just because someone was human and he didn't even want to think what Agatha or his mother or father would do. For another, from what he had seen, Sasuke was an arrogant prick who deserved to be beaten senseless.

The dark-haired woman shook her head. "I mean use your FULL power, all nine tails of it," she said seriously but with a disturbing grin on her face. Naruto's eyes widened at what she was implying. She wanted him to use his Dark Force on Sasuke. Okay, he wanted to beat Sasuke senseless, not turn him into unrecognizable mushy paste. Dark Force was the common term used to refer to alternate or hyper modes that some darkstalkers had which varied from darkstalker to darkstalker. In truth there weren't many darkstalkers who had a Dark Force, but those that did were greatly respected for it since a Dark Force was usually very powerful and very hard to control … and Naruto's was no different in that respect. His Dark Force was the ability to release the seal on his stomach temporarily and be able to use ALL of Kyuubi's power. However, it put a massive strain on him and could very well kill him if he wasn't careful. It also put his instincts into overdrive, turning him into little more than a berserker. Until he gained more control and more tails, he was basically forbidden to use it by his parents, his teachers, and by everyone else who knew about the seal. The result would not be pleasant for anyone.

"Uh … I don't think that would be a good idea," he said quietly, trying not to shake under Alice's intense emerald gaze. Instead of a narrowing of eyes as most people would have done, a twisted smile appeared on her face, as if amused by something. Not good. He immediately tried to explain his reasoning. "Well, I was ordered not to unless it was a life-or-death situation and I don't think the Youkai Kage would like it if I used it for the exam," the kitsune said quickly, hoping not to piss her off.

Alice just nodded, saying nothing for a moment. "In that case, be ready for anything and be sure to give no mercy, all right?" she said in a kind tone, though Naruto knew better. If he didn't give it his all, there was no telling what she would do. He just nodded as she turned and walked away.

**FLASHBACK END**

**Round 11 – Naruto Talbain VS Sasuke Uchiha**

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto as he stood against what he considered his greatest obstacle in his path towards his brother. His Sharingan was fully active with two commas, ready to copy and see into whatever he could though he knew it would be limited as he saw earlier. Still, he would take down this demon and be another step closer to his ultimate goal. He watched as the examiner finally called the beginning of the match. Sasuke immediately started off with _Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu_, laying out a spray of fireballs. Normally, this would've been a great opener if it weren't for the fact that Naruto was a darkstalker of fire.

Naruto also started off quickly. As soon as Sasuke launched his attack, Naruto went into a _Rolling Buckler_, going right through the fireballs at incredible speed. Even with his Sharingan helping him to predict the fox's moves, Sasuke was barely able to dodge as the grinding wheel rolled past at incredible speed. The Leaf Genin barely had any time to think as the wheel turned around and came at him again. As before, Sasuke was barely able to dodge. Even with the speed training he had received with Kakashi, it was still had to dodge that attack and trying to counterattack was out of the question at the moment. Fire jutsus would do no good and he had seen what had happened when Kiba had tried to go against this technique head on. 'Then I'll just have to unbalance it,' he thought as he started making hand signs as the fox came back for another pass. "_Earth Style: Great Mud River!_" he called out as a massive torrent of mud erupted from where Sasuke was standing, hitting the living wheel dead on. Kakashi had taught him this jutsu to help slow down opponents even more so that they'd be easier to nail with his other techniques coupled with his Sharingan.

The result was immediate. Naruto's _Rolling Buckler _slowed, still spinning madly but not really going anywhere. Naruto uncurled, jumping up and immediately covered himself in energy. The kitsune came at Sasuke using _Beast Cannon_ like a comet, howling much like a wolf as he did so. Sasuke dodged but was burned on his arm by the energy as it went streaking by, even faster than the _Rolling Buckler_. The Leaf ninja quickly turned to see Naruto dissipate the energy, turn around, cover himself in energy again, and come right at him at incredible speed. Sasuke's eyes widened as he quickly crossed his arms to block, unable to move fast enough to dodge. He was hit dead on by the attack. He was blasted back into the wall, creating a decent indent in it. 'Damn, that hurt,' he thought as he saw Naruto running right at him on all fours. Thinking quickly, he channeled chakra into both his hands and feet and started to do back flips up the wall as Naruto came in with a _Climb Razor_, creating a massive gouge in the wall where Sasuke once was.

Once Sasuke was about halfway up the wall, he started doing hand signs. Once he was done, a ball of electricity gathered in his hand, forming it into a sphere. He launched the _Chidori Senbon_ right at Naruto who jumped back to avoid the attack. The darkstalker kept jumping to avoid the electric needles. 'Have to use lightning attacks as fire won't do much of anything against him and if he gets close then I'll really have a problem,' the Uchiha thought as he sent another barrage of _Chidori Senbon_ at the kitsune.

Naruto growled as he continued to dodge the attacks. Jumping on the wall opposite Sasuke, he brought his fingers together in a hand seal. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" he cried out as solid copies of the fire-haired boy appeared on the wall next to him. Instantly, they all were engulfed in energy just as the original had been a moment before. Sasuke's eyes widened as a good couple dozen clones came at him at the same time with Naruto crying "_Beast Cannon Barrage!_" Sasuke tried to get out of the way with partial success. The clones impacted with incredible force, taking out large chunks of the wall and blowing Sasuke off it.

Up in the stands, Jon grinned both at his son and at the stunned faces of those around him. Naruto may not have been a genius in the traditional sense, certainly no where near the level of Leon or his parents, but there were times where Jon had wondered if he didn't have some lesser form of the Spark. The boy was crafty when it came to pranks and traps and was certainly a genius when it came to making plans on the fly or in the heat of battle. Naruto had invented the _Beast Cannon Barrage_ during one of their spars back in Atum-Coma. It had surprised the hell out of the werewolf when he did, but it made sense considering his unmatched proficiency with _Shadow Clones_ and increasing expertise of the normal _Beast Cannon_ technique. The boy could cause a lot of damage with that technique, especially since Jon planned to teach the boy the _Clone Great Explosion_ technique after the exams. It was certainly more respectable then that damn _Succubus no Jutsu_ of his. Both Demitri and Felicia had been pissed when he first did it, but for different reasons. Felicia for coming up with something so perverted and Demitri for using his wife as the basis for it, though Morrigan herself was just highly amused and flattered by it. Even worse was how effective it was. 'Felicia's never going to let me live down being defeated by that,' he inwardly grumbled as he continued to watch the match.

The Leaf ninja landed and had only a moment before the Nexus ninja engaged him in close combat. Naruto came in slashing with his claws as Sasuke blocked using kunai, sparks flying from where they connected. While Sasuke definitely had the better form and the advantage of predicting Naruto's move to a degree thanks to the Sharingan, it was still hard for him to compete with the darkstalker who obviously outclassed him in speed, strength, and raw power. It seemed they were pretty even until Naruto used a _Climb Razor_ on Sasuke at close range, knocking and slashing the Leaf Genin back hard into the wall.

Sasuke's thoughts swirled around in his head as Naruto readied another attack. 'Why?' More _Shadow Clones_ appeared with each one lighting up like before. 'Why am I so weak?' he thought as the Cursed Seal on his neck began to pulse. That blue, undead lady and her sister had sealed it with Kakashi supervising and since then he hadn't felt anything from it. It was like it wasn't even there, though he still remembered the power it had given him and he still wanted it. However, that were green-eyed lady did something to sealing they put on, loosening it somehow and changing the seal itself. He could feel the seal activate and start to spread all over his body. Black marks in the shape of flames extended over his body, enhancing his chakra and increasing his rage. 'I refuse to be weak! I will get stronger and I will kill him!' he thought wildly as the marks pulsed to life. He barely noticed as another _Beast Cannon Barrage_ was sent right at him. There was a massive explosion and a large cloud obscured everyone's vision.

Before anyone could say anything, Sasuke came rushing out of the cloud and attacked Naruto with a heavy barrage of punches and kicks. The kitsune barely had time to react to block most of the attacks. Eventually, Sasuke gave him a powerful kick that sent him flying backwards. Naruto growled as he noticed the marks on Sasuke's body. 'Well if he's gonna kick it up a notch, then so will I,' he thought as in mid air he transformed into his feral form and went into a _Rolling Buckler_ right at the Leaf ninja. Once he got close enough, instead of doing the usual uppercut, he jumped up and brought his claw down on his opponent. Sasuke jumped back as flames erupted from the claw. Naruto pressed the attack, launching small bursts of flame from each punch and kick. The two continued their taijutsu match, the fire-furred kitsune launching flames from his claws while the black-mark covered human used his Sharingan to counter as best he could while trying to resist the intense heat.

The attacks between the two increased in intensity until Naruto decided to end it. Moving faster than Sasuke could counter; the feral kitsune grabbed both his hands in his claws, locking them both in a grapple. Surprisingly, Sasuke was able to withstand the darkstalker's strength but was surprised when Naruto's two tails wrapped around his legs, keeping him from moving even further. Two crimson pairs of eyes locked; one animalistic and the other intensely focused, as the bestial darkstalker began to gather mass amounts of fire chakra around his body. The blazing chakra increased in intensity before starting to collect itself into a sphere inside Naruto's open mouth. Sasuke, recognizing immediately what was coming but was unable to move due to his hands and feet being restrained. "Eat this! _Wildfire Tsunami!_" he called just before releasing the attack as well as his grip on Sasuke.

The Uchiha got hit by an extreme fire blast at point-blank range. The blast engulfed his whole body and sent him hurtling backwards right into the wall, hard. The blast engulfed his whole body before Naruto had to end the attack from exhaustion. He fell to all-fours breathing hard, still in his feral form. That attack took quite a bit out of him but he doubted anyone could've survived it at that close range. He looked up to see Sasuke on the ground, charred all over his clothes and not getting up. "Heh, one cocky human extra crispy, order up," he chuckled as he shifted back into his half form.

**Round 11 Winner – Naruto Talbain**

Up in the stands, everyone from Nexus cheered for their representative. Both Shiva and Anita shared a small grin, having no doubt that he would win. Felicia and every other catwoman he had met were all cheering wildly. Jon just smiled widely at his son who stood there grinning like the fox he was. 'Nicely done,' the werewolf thought to himself about that last attack. _Wildfire Tsunami_ was a powerful attack but it was really hard to aim with. By grappling with his opponent and using it at that close range he was able to dish out maximum damage. It just proved how devious Naruto could be, despite what he may appear as. However, while most people were cheering or lamenting about the money they lost betting, such Ibiki who now owed a good amount to Anko, others were worrying about what they saw in the fight itself.

Mei-Ling frowned at the human boy as the medics took him away. 'Our sealing failed? That's not possible,' she thought as she remembered the black marks she saw. She and her sister had worked with the Leaf Jonin Kakashi in order to seal that mark from corrupting the boy. The method they used worked independently from the boy's will or power so that it wouldn't falter in times of weakness unlike the original method that Kakashi had planned to use. Their sealing also prevented the black mark from being affected by outside influences, pretty much isolating it all together. The only way for that mark to activate was if their sealing had been weakened somehow, but no one outside of Nexus would be able to do that and even then, very few would even know where to begin. 'I need to inform my sister as well the Hokage and Youkai Kage, they must know about this,' she thought as she got up to do just that.

Sakura was also disturbed by the black marks. In the forest after Anita apparently sealed them away, she didn't think much of them, but now… The pink haired girl wasn't sure what to think, all she knew was her teammate was being corrupted by something and she had to find a way to help. 'I will not be useless. I will find a way."

The Kazekage narrowed his eyes as he watched the medics take Sasuke away. 'Well, that was interesting. It seems the Kyuubi is full of surprises as is Nexus. Oh well, I'll look into it later,' the man thought as what appeared to be feathers started to float down. All around the arena, people, both human and darkstalker, began to fall asleep. 'It's time to have some fun,' Orochimaru grinned to himself. The invasion had begun.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu:** This is a long range jutsu that sends multiple balls of fire at a target. It is also possible to hide shurikens within the fireballs, creating an unexpected secondary surprise attack. For the most part, however, this jutsu is used as a distraction. It's used primarily by fire type darkstalker and any ninja who use fire jutsu such as those in the Uchiha clan who specialize in it.

**Earth Style: Great Mud River:** This is a close to mid range jutsu that allows the user to turn the local area into mud to impede an opponent's mobility. This jutsu has very little offensive capabilities and is usually a tactical jutsu. It's used by earth type darkstalkers and any ninja who use earth style jutsu.

**Beast Cannon:** This is a technique favored by werewolves and other bestial type darkstalkers. The user covers them selves in chakra/energy and uses that to launch them selves like a comet at a target. It also allows them to travel extremely fast and even through the air. However, the drawback with this technique is that it is very hard to steer and usually the user has to stop and start again in order to change directions. While experts of this technique can do so without stopping and starting, it is still very difficult to do so.

**Chidori Senbon:** A variant of the Chidori (to be defined in a later entry), this is a mid range electric jutsu. The user manipulates the electricity into needles and fires them at a target. Since the electricity is spread out, it will only numb the target rather than fully electrocuting them. So far the only user is Sasuke Uchiha, however it may be used in the future by any lightning type darkstalkers.

**Beast Cannon Barrage:** A long range attack that is a combination of the _Beast Cannon_ and the _Shadow Clone_. Basically, the user creates the clones and uses them as kamikaze with the _Beast Cannon_. This attack is highly destructive and is useful is wide open areas. It should be noted that the clones cannot change direction through stopping and starting as doing so may cause them to dissipate.

**Succubus no Jutsu:** A type of transformation jutsu developed by Naruto Talbain as the ultimate surprise/anti-pervert technique. Using a good amount of chakra, the user temporarily shape-shifts into the ultimate vision of a succubus (based off of Morrigan Maximof), completely naked with her aura and pheromones cranked to extreme levels for maximum effect. The result is usually the target goes unconscious from blood loss/shock. **NOTE**: This technique is extremely (annoyingly) effective on males, and at least partially effective on everything else. However this technique should be used sparingly in front of females as it may lead to the user being beaten senseless by said females.

**Wildfire Tsunami:** This is usually a wide area, mid to long range attack used by fire type darkstalkers. What the user does is ignites their whole body in the most intense fire-based chakra they can build up like a furnace, and then launch it at their target. They can focus this energy to a more concentrated form, such as a beam of fire or an orb to act as a grenade. It should be noted that the actual power of this attack is relative to the power of the user. If two fire type darkstalkers were to use it against each other, the one who could build up the greater/hotter fire-based chakra would usually win. I say usually, because it has been shown that a concentrated strike can usually pierce a wide area attack.

**DARK TOME****: Creatures**

**Main Type:** **Reptile** (Displays distinct physical/mental traits of reptiles EX: cold blooded, scales, etc.)

**Sub Type:** **Humanoid**

**Lamia/Naga**: Lamiae, or naga as they are also commonly referred to, are unusual creatures. Typically, they are depicted having a humanoid torso with their legs replaced by the body and tail of a snake. These reptilian darkstalkers share many characteristics with common snakes, such as scales, fangs, venom, and the ability to swallow things bigger than their head whole as well as having a wide range of species similar to that of standard snakes. However, they do obviously have some differences.

Firstly, the scales on their snake half end just below the waist and only continue up their backs to the shoulders. These scales are naturally tough and resistant to most form of blunt attack or cutting attacks. However, attacks that pierce are found to be effective if the are done with a strong enough blade. The rest of their body which appears to be covered by skin is actually made up of hundreds of tiny scales that are even thinner than paper and thickly layered. This allows their humanoid torsos to have the same armor like protection as the rest of their body. Like normal snakes, they shed their skin as they grow which also has the bonus of removing any scars or skin conditions provided they aren't deep tissue situations. The leftover skin is usually sold off to make light grade armor as it still retains some of its resistance even after being shed. Their length from head to tail tip varies greatly on naga species. The shortest fully grown naga was approximately 10 feet whereas the longest was approximately 25 feet. The average tends to be in the range of 15 to 20 feet. It is important to note that lamiae are not 100% cold blooded. They have evolved the ability to generate their own heat like warm blooded creatures, but nowhere near to extent that a creature of their relative size should be able to and thus are still very susceptible to outside temperature.

According to myth, these creatures main diet consisted of humans, specifically children. Like the myths with werewolves, this is just mostly propaganda. In truth, lamiae will eat just about anyone or anything provided they can swallow it whole, which they usually can. Also, while their diet does consist primarily of meat (living or dead) they can also eat normal food but need a good amount of meat to stay healthy. Currently, lamiae inhabit the Outer Territory, The Wilds, Makai, Clockworks, and Tirana in decent numbers and are considered decent folk provided you don't piss them off enough to get eaten. Like many of the darkstalkers in Nexus, they came from the Lost Zone seeking refuge, especially since food for them was getting scarce … and really mean.

NOTE: Half-naga also exists in Nexus. The main differences between these and normal naga is that they lack the characteristic tail and instead have humanoid legs, a warmer body temperature though it is still below that of warm-blooded creatures, and are unable to stretch mouths as wide as normal naga though it is still more then normal creatures.

AN: Well here's the fight everyone's been waiting for. I hope I did it justice. I'm trying to keep both ninja and darkstalkers more or less equal and not overpowering one or the other. This will be a slightly early Christmas gift to all my readers. Again, any ideas for the Dark Tome are appreciated. Please Read and Review.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 32: Night Battle Party

Chaos; that was the only word to describe what was happening in Konoha The Sound and Sand villages were invading the Leaf with the help of some rogue darkstalkers. They had attempted to put the entire arena to sleep with a genjutsu. However the jutsu had very limited effect on the darkstalkers in the audience who promptly woke up and joined the defense of the village. They had dispersed all over. Jon and Felicia had rallied the werewolves and catwomen to defend the village itself, Amethyst had grabbed her sister and immediately ran for the Dark Blade, Ruby Heart and her crew had taken to defending the arena. Everywhere were darkstalkers and ninja fighting and going at it.

Out on the borders of Konoha, Ibiki led the defense against the giant snake summons that were crashing through the walls. They had appeared at about the same time as the as the attack on the arena started. Chunins and Jonins were trying to hold them off but too little effect. These snakes were large, mean, and fast. One of the Chunin returned to Ibiki, looking worse for ware. "Sir, it's no good. We're only slowing them down. We need backup, big backup," he said nervously. However, before Ibiki could respond, massive explosions were heard as the enemy snakes were seemingly attacked. Everyone looked up to see the Dark Blade swooping out of the clouds, cannons blazing and pirates running around. "What the hell is that?" the Chunin asked surprised.

"Our backup," he said simply as he watched the ship come down.

On the ship itself, Amethyst was shouting orders from near the helm as her crew scrambled to carry them out. Nearby, Hanabi did her best to stay out of the way while helping where she could. Her respect for her sister went up as the pirates ruthlessly attacked the snake summons. Amongst the chaos on the ship, the young Hyuuga could hear the captain yelling orders. "Unfurl all sails, come about for another volley, load all grappling spears, batten down the secondary hatches," she yelled out like a well trained army sergeant.

One of the crew members responded. "We did batten them down," he said earnestly.

Amethyst scowled, "Well batten them down again, we'll teach those hatches!" She then turned to her gunners who were all standing by. "FIRE!" The cannons let loose a volley of weird looking spears connected to heavy chains. Every one of the summons was hit by at least one or two chains, going right through them before the heads of the spears expanded, locking them into position. The chains were pulled taught as the Dark Blade attempted to pull them off the ground. "Reel those land eels in and we'll gut and fry the lot of them," Amethyst announced as the snakes resisted being pulled off the ground. The ship rocked and creaked as it was pulled and tugged by the snakes in a massive and unusual tug-o-war. However, Amethyst didn't seem too concerned as she grabbed a flare gun and shot straight up into the air. The on looking ninja were confused as to why she did that until a sound rose over the chaos the tug-o-war was making.

It was buzzing, really loud buzzing. From the distance appeared a massive, oddly colored cloud. As it quickly approached, they saw that it was a swarm of bees … spirit bees. The swarm was massive and being led by both E-Bee Alpha and E-Bee Beta as they converged on the summoned snakes. In no time at all the bees started to sting, rip, tear, and devour the reptiles in a bloody feeding frenzy. A decent number of the watching ninja on both sides as well as a few from Nexus became sick at the gruesome sight and yet couldn't look away, like watching a train wreck. Bloody snake guts spilled all over as the spirit bees devoured every bit of them, flesh, blood, skin, bones, and all. Even Ibiki turned a little green at the sight. 'I think I'm gonna be sick,' he absently thought as in approximately twenty minutes, nothing was left of the snakes as the spears and chains dangled from the Dark Blade, pristine as even all the blood and residue had been eaten by the ravenous spirit bees. Even the bones and cloth the snakes had been wearing were gone, devoured by the much-less-than-picky spirit bees. After they finished their meal, they took to the sky again and spread throughout the forest. Soon after, screams were being heard as enemy ninja shared the same dinner-date fate as the snakes. "I'm glad Nexus is on our side," Ibiki muttered as many of his comrades nodded in agreement, still a little green from the feeding frenzy they had just witnessed.

Satisfied with the havoc she had orchestrated, Amethyst turned her ship around towards the main village. Her job had been to reinforce the outer areas and now with the summons gone, the local ninja could handle that. Taking out her spyglass, she looked back towards the arena where a literally sky high force field had appeared from the roof. "What in blazes?" she muttered as she looked to see what was happening. She saw the field being generated by four unknown ninja with what looked like ANBU ninja waiting outside. Inside the barrier stood Hokage and the Youkai Kage facing off against someone who looked like a half-naga. 'That's interesting,' she thought as she turned her spyglass down towards the village itself. She could see that many Leaf ninja were already receiving help from Nexus ninja. It was then that she noticed something else to left of the arena from where she was. It looked like more darkstalkers were entering the village, but were causing more chaos instead of defending it. "Rogues," she muttered before putting her spyglass away. 'Looks like there's more fun to be had,' she thought to herself before turning to her crew. "Bring us about to course heading 274, looks like we got some rogue darkstalkers joining the party. Well, we'll have to show them what we do to party crashers, eh mates?" she asked rhetorically causing her crew to chuckle as they reloaded the weapons and turned the ship around to intercept the new invaders.

On the ground a weird contest was being unofficially held between a large group of catwomen and the Inuzukas, especially between Tsume and Felicia. The two groups were seeing who could take out the most enemy ninja before the battle officially ended. So far both groups were pretty evenly matched as when one would get ahead the other would catch up and surpass the other's number before being passed again. The difference in styles was very interesting. While both groups used teamwork to take down their opponents, the difference between them was blatantly obvious. The Inuzukas used maneuvers similar to those used by wolves, surrounding the enemy and attacking all at once and overwhelming their prey. The catwomen on the other hand, used coordination that bore a creepy resemblance to choreographed dancing like one would see in the theater. The enemy had no idea how to counter this as only the catwomen seemed to be able to hear the silent music they moved to. Felicia led the attack, gracefully jumping off the head of an enemy ninja, disorienting him as one of her comrades ran him over with a _Rolling Buckler_, leaving him twitching with what looked like a tire track over him. "That's 54 kibble brains," Felicia called out to the Inuzuka matriarch.

Tsume growled for a moment before running towards another couple of enemy ninja, followed closely by the rest of her family. Immediately they went into a _Tunneling Fang_, hitting the Sound ninja repeatedly one after the other before both of them were shredded. "56 for us tuna breath," Tsume called back to which Felicia just growled and continued the assault, the numbers on both sides continuing to rise. As the two groups continued to fight, a sickening smell washed over the area as the wind shifted, originating from near the arena and smelling like ages and ages of both dried and fresh blood. Both groups turned towards the source, the Inuzukas in confusion while most of the catwomen turned in fearful recognition. "What the hell is that?" Tsume asked out loud.

Felicia's eyes widened; in recognition when she picked up the scent coming from near the arena. 'What the hell is HE doing here!? He's supposed to be stuck in the Lost Zone! This is not good,' she thought as she continued to attack despite the killing intent. It was then she remembered something important. 'Oh hell, Naruto and the others are still at the arena. If he sees Naruto again even after all this time there's no telling what'll happen,' she thought wildly. Immediately she looked around until her eyes landed on Lucy scratching the face off of another Sound ninja. "Lucy, go warn Jon that Bishamon is here and heading towards the arena where Naruto and the others are. We'll try and join him as soon as we clean up here," she ordered the gray tabby.

Lucy nodded after striking down her opponent. "You got it!" she cried as she went into a _Rolling Buckler_ and sped away towards the market area of Konoha where Jon Talbain and the werewolves were reinforcing the Leaf ninja. A group of enemy ninja tried to block her by standing in the way only to be knocked away like bowling pins, leaving a seven-ten split. Felicia just hoped she made it in time before something happened.

At the arena, multiple fights were breaking out, including the one going on between Orochimaru, Sarutobi, and Donovan. The three had started off using relatively easy techniques, just some light sparring for them. However, it seemed as if the naga wanna-be wanted to get serious and attempted some type of summoning using three caskets. The Hokage had disabled the center casket but the other two had been successfully summoned. The result was the return of the First and Second Hokages returning to the land of the living to fight, though not of their own will. This resulted in the three on two match-up with Donovan fighting the two undead Hokage and Sarutobi fighting against the half-naga wannabe. While the former hunter of the dark was no push over and had untold experience in dealing with beings with strange powers, very few groups had the teamwork that the First and Second showed. The First had encased the area within the barrier in dense woodland while the Second used powerful water techniques. However, neither had ever dealt with a hunter of the Dark or with a sword like Dhylec. The First had attempted to use _Binding Nest_ on Donovan with the Second launching a _Water Dragon_ at him. The bindings stood no chance against the blade of Dark, allowing the former monk to dodge the attack. He looked over to his ally to see him defending against the snake bastard's sword with a large staff that was actually his summon in a transformed state. While the old man seemed to be holding his own to the casual observer, Donovan could see the Hokage was tiring. 'I need to end this now!' he thought as the beads wrapped around him glowed and came to life, surrounding both the First and Second.

The two undead ninja found themselves unable to move as the beads around them pulsed with strange energy. Donovan began to chant lowly as the glow around the beads increased in intensity. "Now, _Unlife Release!_" he called out as both the forms of the First and Second Hokages disintegrated into large piles of dust, each holding a Sound Genin within. He could see the spirits of the two Hokage lift into the air and then fade away, smiling in gratitude. With that done he turned to aid the old man.

Orochimaru noticed what was had happened to his two "support troops" and decided it was time to retreat. Sarutobi he could handle by himself, but this Youkai Kage was another matter all together. Besides, he had already gotten what he really wanted anyway. "Well Sarutobi, looks like I'll have to cut our little match short. Oh well, at least I've had the pleasure of meeting Sasuke," he said calmly just before throwing a group of smoke bombs in front of him. The old Hokage had no time to react as he realized the smoke was poisonous. The barrier finally dropped, allowing the Anbu to move in and aid their fallen leader as well as go after the traitorous Sannin and Sound Four. Before the masked Leaf ninja could attack, the six-armed Kidomaru used _Spiral Spider Web_ to ensnare them to keep them from following. Orochimaru and the Sound Four all smirked as he watched the Anbu were stopped in mid-air by the web. However, none of them noticed the large shadow high above them.

"NUM-NUMS!" a loud, bestial sounding voice cried, causing Orochimaru to quickly turn to see a pale-eyed pirate girl with a crazed look on her face, bungee-jumping from a sky-ship, swinging a large sword that looked like a shark that had just cried out. Orochimaru's eyes widened as he was unable to completely dodge in mid-air. The result was that instead of slicing him down the middle, Sharkey instead took off one of his arms at the shoulder. Orochimaru screamed in pain as he felt his arm ripped off and quickly devoured by the living sword. The Sound group began to descend in their leap as the bungee-cord snapped and pulled the Amethyst back towards them, laughing like a maniac.

The pirates on her ship watched in both fear and awe. "She's possessed," a gator-like pirate said in slight fear.

"She's insane," another harpy pirate added.

"She's my sister," finished Hanabi, causing the entire crew to turn and stare at her with wide eyes.

Before any of the Sound Four could stop her, Amethyst came back and swung again. This time they were able to dodge … almost. Tayuya, bringing up the rear, was twisting around to avoid the shark-toothed sword and instead it missing her or having the Sound girl get sliced in two like her master, Sharkey instead opened his mouth and clamped down on the rope belt she was wearing as well as part of her shorts. The result was Tayuya getting whipped straight up, literally by the seat of her pants, receiving a massive wedgie in the process, as the bungee cord was retracted pulling her, the sword that was currently clamped to her backside, and the maniac pirate who wielded said sword, all the while swearing so bad it made the pirates blush. Amethyst jumped back onto her ship and swung Sharkey, throwing the swearing Sound ninja on the deck of her ship. Said Sound ninja could barely move due to the fact that she was in extreme pain from whiplash and having just received a wedgie-from-hell thanks to having the equivalent of a small shark bite her in the ass. Amethyst just smiled as she turned to her crew. "You three; lock this one in the brig for now and make sure she's completely contained. The rest of you, arm the cannons and start circling the arena, we don't want any stragglers," she ordered. The crew immediately obeyed and set to work. Amethyst took her position by the helm and activated her Byakugan. Immediately she saw something, or rather someone, heading right towards the arena. "Oh bugger," she muttered when she saw who it was.

On the ground, Naruto and the other Genin from Leaf and Nexus were doing their best to defend the unconscious civilians from the enemy ninja and the rogue darkstalkers who had started to show up. Quite frankly it was insane. Demitri and Morrigan had gone to help Hiashi, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling went to aid the Ino-Shika-Cho group, Gil and Agatha had taken up sniper positions and were nailing anyone they could with the laser guns they had brought (never left home without them), and nobody knew where the hell Alice or Yomiko were, though Yomiko was probably STILL in the Konoha library and unaware that there was a war going on. Currently, the fox-boy was in the middle of the arena just getting done deep frying a rather weak renegade werewolf when he felt it. A killing intent he hadn't felt in years but one he would never forget. 'No, it can't be. He can't be here, how can he be here!?' the kitsune thought wildly as a nearby wall exploded, a large, dark form standing in the dust cloud, two sets of demonic, crimson eyes, one smaller than the other. Naruto slowly turned to see who it was, though deep down he already did.

A dark chuckled emanated from the figure as it was surrounded in a sickening, blood-red aura. "I see this new world filled with new blood is nonetheless filled with fools. How fortunate am I to find the prey that I had lost so long ago. I may not have spilled your blood then, but I will this day," the demon spoke in a twisted voice before rushing the boy. Naruto just stood frozen as Bishamon raised his sword Kien to strike down strike down the fox as he intended so long ago.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Binding Nest:** This is a short to mid-range technique that lets the user summon a tree around their opponent to bind them. This technique is relatively powerful and holds opponents gracefully, with only average strain on the user, because the user sinks them into the ground. Afterwards, the user can enclose the opponent so that their body implodes. This technique is/was used by humans who possess the Mokuton bloodline or are able to expertly use both Earth and Water type chakra equally as well as almost all plant type darkstalkers such as netherleafs.

**Spiral Spider Web:** This is a wide area technique that allows the user to create a large web out silk or in some cases energy. This technique is used by expert trappers and insect type darkstalkers who are related to spiders or some silk making insect. The strength and stickiness of the strands depends on how much energy is used for the technique. NOTE: If the user is not careful, they themselves may end up caught in their own web, literally.

**Unlife Release:** This is a mid-range exorcism technique used by priestesses, shamans, and other holy/Light beings to dispel and or weaken the undead. While this technique is useful, it is most effective on newly formed undead. Undead creatures that have been around longer, such as Zabel Raptor, would have a much higher immunity to this technique (much to the chagrin of Hsien-Ko).

**DARK TOME: Summoning Technique**

**NOTE:**** Excerpt is written by Baroness Agatha Heterodyne Wulfenbach, Monarch of Clockworks, Dean of Twilight University, and Head of City Research & Development.**

**Date:**** 5 June 0006 A.E.**

Summoning is a technique used by both ninjas and spell users, both of the Light and Dark, to bring forth a creature to aid them, usually a totem animal or familiar. Recently, I have started a researching project on this technique in all its forms at the university so that we may better understand how the principles of this world operate as well as see how Lost Zone techniques compare to technique in this world. This is also in order to better understand how the Light and Dark may or may not affect ninja techniques or how ninja seals may affect Nexus techniques. To start with, I'll explain what summoning is.

Summoning is similar to the use of Keys of the Dark. Keys open doors between two different worlds to allow the user to step through, just as one would cross from one room to another. Summoning is likened to the user opening a door, reaching into the next room, and pulling someone else from that room into the one the user is in. In looking at the different styles, I've found a few aspects that are similar and some that differ wildly. For starters, ninja style summoning requires the user to sign a contract scroll with a family of creatures in blood. Afterwards through the use of hand seals, Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram to be exact, a small amount of blood to act as an anchor, and chakra, the user can summon any member of that creature family depending on intent and amount of chakra. I find it interesting that the method of summoning is the same regardless of the family/group the contract is for and the fact that they can do it anywhere, especially compared to spell caster style summoning.

For spell casters to summon, they have to use a specific ritual to summon one specific creature. There are also two types of summoning for those in Nexus, spiritual and physical. This ritual varies greatly from creature to creature with similar creatures using similar rituals. Some rituals are limited to where they can be cast and by whom, such as by being exclusive to users of the Dark or those of the Light. The summoning brings the target creature to wherever the ritual is cast and stays there until a reverse ritual is performed by the same caster or if the caster is somehow killed in the case of physical summoning whereas with spiritual it is only temporary and the target creatures automatically return to wherever they came from.

Now onto some of the differences I've found between the two styles. First off, with ninja summoning only those who've signed the contract can summon members of that creature family and moreover, each summoner can belong to one family, though I am still researching as to whether or not it is possible to be belong to more than one. For spell casters, anyone can summon a creature provided they fulfill ALL the requirements of the ritual. In the research I've done in both styles, whoever summons the creature first gets them and no one else can summon them until that creature is dismissed. In our tests with spell caster summoning, if two or more casters try to summon the same creature at the exact same time, the results tend to vary. In some cases, the more powerful caster gets the creature, in others the creature itself decides where to go, and in a few cases the target creature is literally split between the casters. We were cleaning that mess up for days. One of the main differences between the two styles is time. For spell casters the summoned creature can stay indefinitely until sent back or the caster is killed. Ninja summoning has a time limit regardless of whether the caster is killed or not. The more chakra used in the summoning; the longer the creature can stay. We're still trying to determine what aspect of spell caster summoning allows infinite time but it is difficult with all the different rituals used.

This research does point to a few odd conclusions. First being that the reason ninja style summoning is all the same is because the creatures summoned all come from the same place. Whether that's the current world we are in or another world altogether is still open for debate. In comparison, spell caster summoning can summon many different creatures from many different worlds. Another difference is who exactly is in charge. With spell casters, the one who does the summoning is the boss of whatever is summoned. With ninja I'm not so certain. Studies indicate it is more of a partnership than anything else, usually with the user being the subordinate to the boss of the creature family. In any case, more studies will be done into this.

On a side note, some of my other projects are coming along nicely, especially Project Megaduce. Work has progressed smoothly on the three prototypes, but it will be some time before they are fully operational.

AN: I apologize for taking so long but I had 3 problems. First was a major case of writer's block, second is that I'm job hunting with the economy being what it is, and third, my computer was completely wiped clean by a virus, not even an operating system was left. I'm just lucky that I had backups though they were a little old. In any case, I'll try to have the next chapter up when I can. Please Read and Review and thanks to all for your support.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 33: Crimson Reunion

Naruto stood like at statue as the thing that had haunted his nightmares and come to life came at him, making to rip him in to. 'Move!' he screamed at himself. Nothing, his body refused to respond. 'Move now!' he tried again. As before, his body did nothing. Bishamon, the demon samurai was closing in on him and he still couldn't move. "**MOVE KIT**!" a thunderous voice from within his head roared at him and finally caused him to move. The kitsune jumped away just as the bloodthirsty sword Kien came down. He immediately went into a _Rolling Buckler_ to get some distance between them. He went up the wall and unrolled, looking at where the blood samurai stood. 'Why isn't he following me?' he thought and then he realized why once he saw where Bishamon was looking. The civilians who were still asleep and at the moment were completely helpless. The maniac darkstalker would have no qualms about slaughtering all those people just to see their blood run like a waterfall down the stands.

Looking to where some of his friends and the other Genin were fighting, he brought his hand to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. Immediately they all turned to him as he pointed towards the demonic samurai. "We have to defend these people or else Bishamon will kill them all!" he shouted to them.

Axel snorted as he used another _Riff Wave_ on an enemy ninja, blowing him into a wall. "Easier said than done mate. We got all these little pests buzzing around and now that maniac is here. How are we gonna do anything?" he asked as he smacked another ninja senseless.

Leon spoke up next, firing a pair of energy guns as he ducked and dodged. "We need to wake them up and evacuate them all," he shouted.

"And where exactly would we take them?" Shiva asked. "The village is in chaos right now."

"Anyplace be better than in Bishamon's warpath," Ruby Heart commented.

Maito Gai then broke in. "Agreed. We have shelters we can evacuate these people to. Problem is it'll take time and some of us need to protect them while we're doing it."

Ruby nodded and brought her fingers to her lips, letting out a loud whistle that caught the attention of all the pirates in the area who were also defending the arena. "All right ye scallywags wake these people up and follow the Leaf ninja. It ye can't wake 'em up, carry them. I don't want a single civilian let behind," she ordered to which the pirates immediately went to work. She then turned to the Nexus and Leaf Genin. "I'll take on that overgrown meat cleaver, you need to set up a defense in case he gets past me and help wake these people up," she ordered. They all nodded and went to work. Ruby jumped down and intercepted the crimson samurai, anchor in hand.

The black-skinned swordsman grinned at the sight. "Ah the infamous Ruby Heart, have you come to claim my armor pirate? Defeat me and claim my demon fire as your own and then, only then will the likes of thee be worthy of me," the demon samurai intoned as he took a battle stance.

Ruby just smirked as she readied her anchor. "Nay, I don't want to done such a nasty piece O' work, though it may fetch a pretty penny on the open market … as scrap metal," she replied smugly, causing the armor itself to growl at her, the eyes glowing angrily at her. The pirate just smirked at him, before getting into a stance herself. "Have at ye!" she cried as she dashed right at him, swinging her anchor like a battle ax.

The two went at it. The swordsman was showing his skill in keeping the pirate from advancing. However, Ruby was no slouch with her anchor as the two traded strikes, spark flying from the contact between the two weapons as they moved in a blur. While her anchor was made out of pure mithril and thus could stand up to punishment beyond reason, it was still being damaged by the demon sword Kien. Added to the fact that Bishamon had years of experience and an insane bloodlust, it was a major fight. In the mean time, the civilians were being rushed out by the pirates while the ninja defended them. Even with many of the Nexus ninja using _Shadow Clones_ to help the evacuation, it was still time consuming due to their being so many people plus they weren't sure how long Ruby could hold out against Bishamon.

The answer came when the crimson samurai noticed what was happening to his prey. "How dare you! I will spill the blood of everyone in this village, starting with those people and you will not stop me!" he roared. The demon leaned back and the mouth on his armor opened. Immediately, a large, ghostly green claw flew out and grabbed Ruby before she had a chance to react. The woman gritted her teeth, refusing to allow this monster the pleasure as she felt her life drained out of her as the claw squeezed like a vice. Just as she felt she was about to black out, the claw then slammed her on the ground and then threw her into a wall, creating a massive crater in what was left of the wall. "I will stain the ground in your blood after I've had my fun," he said with a twisted grin and turned to make his way towards the stands once more. However, he only got a few feet before a series of chains erupted from the ground restraining his movements followed by a large, strange seal appearing about waist height around him, containing his power. "What trickery is this!?" he shouted in rage before he spotted the source, Anita. "You!"

Anita's face betrayed nothing as she kept her concentration. Around her, her beads formed the shape of a key hole; glowing a strange gray color. Above her was the image of a large serpent-like creature, with bat wings, red eyes, and chains wrapped around its torso. (AN1) 'I can't let this monster get to the stands. We still need more time,' she thought as she strained to maintain the two containment techniques, _Mana Style: Shadow Chains_ and _Mana Style: Binding Seal_. Her spirit summoning gave her extra power in maintaining the techniques, but it was still a strain, especially on one as insane and powerful a Bishamon. However, she didn't need to hold him indefinitely, just long enough.

Next to her appeared Shiva. Immediately, the wings on her back and head dispersed into dozens of bats and then reformed; into a large, black cannon with bat wing extensions on it, on her shoulder with two smaller cannons circling it. "_Soul Eraser!_" she cried out as the main cannon fired with the two smaller ones creating a helix blast around the center. The attack hit dead on, causing a massive amount of collateral damage in the area around the demonic samurai and kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Once the attack was finished, the cannon reformed into Shiva's wings and Anita's spirit summon dissipated as her beads returned to their place. "Did that finish him?" she asked with the barest glimpse of hope in her voice. That hope was crushed however, when she saw a familiar shadow outlined in the cloud of dust. Bishamon had his arms up as if to block along with a strange glow that encompassed the armor. "Oh hell," Shiva muttered as she realized what had happened. Bishamon had activated his Dark Force and had blocked the attack. For all its bloodthirsty nature, Hanna was, in the end, still just a suit of armor and armor's primary purpose was to protect the user. Even worse was the fact that both she and Anita were worn out from their matches and from the fighting they had been doing here before Bishamon came. In short, they were sitting ducks.

A cold chuckle emerged from the form. "Decent attempt, but it will take more than that to defeat me!" he yelled before charging at the two girls, Kien ready to cut them down. Just as he was about to slash through both of them with one shot, a bolt of light flashed by and the two girls were gone. "What!?" he roared in anger as he looked to see Naruto running up the side of the arena with his teammates in each of his arms. "You again!?" the Bishamon cried as he saw one of the few beings who had ever escaped him appear.

Naruto ignored the samurai for a moment as he laid his teammates on what was left of the plant stands, making sure they were properly covered so they wouldn't be seen easily. Both were exhausted not only from fighting but also from all the power they used in those last couple of techniques. Before he had time to dwell on it, his instincts screamed at him and he immediately jumped to the side as the demon sword Kien flew by and embedded itself into the plant stands. 'Damn, that was close,' Naruto thought as he watched the sword return to its master. He glanced up at the stands across from him and saw they were almost done evacuating the civilians, but they still needed more time which Bishamon was not going to give them. 'There's no one left. None of the darkstalkers or humans here can match that bastard, especially when he has his Dark Force engaged.' Looking down at his claws, he knew what he needed to do in order to save those still retreating from the demon samurai's wrath. 'If I survive this, mom's going to kill me,' he thought as he shifted into his feral form, knowing he was going to need the extra resilience to survive what he was going to do.

Bishamon turned towards the stands, drawing Kien in preparation for the coming blood bath. Rivers of blood would flow through Konoha before the sun set if he had anything to say about it. However, before he could jump up to his first victims, a wave of demonic power tore through the area, causing everyone to stop dead in their tracks and managed to wake up those few who were still asleep. Turning to the source, Bishamon's eyes widened at what he saw. The kitsune boy, the one that had escaped him years ago through dumb luck, had transformed. 'So, the little fox shows his true power,' the samurai thought at the sight of Naruto now.

The boy was in his feral form on all fours, growling, snarling, jerking, and twitching as if he was just barely restraining himself from attacking. Covering his body, almost like a suit of armor, was a skeleton, a fox skeleton, with nine, whip-like bone tails behind him with the skull covering his head like a twisted helmet. His entire body was covered in black flames with blood-red highlights with extensions around both his front and back claws. Behind him, along with his two tails also covered in flame which lined up with two of the bone tails, were seven more tails made up of flame, also lining up with the bone tails. All nine flaming tails extended for approximately twice his body length and whipped around like crazed serpents looking for anything to strike. The most disturbing thing that everyone could see was the demon's face. The inside of his mouth brightened and dimmed as he breathed deeply, like a furnace being manipulated by a bellows, with small wisps of smoke being exhaled with each breath. His eyes were a burning yellow, like two small suns, the irises looking like rings of flame with the pupil pure white. The air around the transformed kitsune bent like a mirage in the desert from the heat given off, which was felt by everyone in the arena. The people in the stands had mixed reactions. Those from Nexus looked on in amazement and respect for Naruto's Dark Force while those from the Leaf stared in pure fear in seeing their worst nightmare from the past reborn.

Bishamon stood at the ready, staring down his new opponent, confident he would spill the fox's blood. That belief was quickly shattered however, when the transformed kitsune roared. A blast of super-heated wind struck the samurai, pushing him back several and searing him somewhat as well. Before he had a chance to do anything, the infernal kitsune blurred forward like a comet and struck the crimson samurai in the chest, throwing him back into what was left of the wall. 'It seems the rumors of the fox's power have been greatly understated,' he thought as he tried to get back up. He had never faced such raw power before. The closest thing he could think of in comparison was Pyron, despite the fact that he hadn't actually met the alien and had only heard rumor about him. Even with his Dark Force engaged, he still felt pain from that attack as well as the fact that five smoking slash marks now adorned his chest. The fox roared again and came at the samurai, literally blazing a trail as he did so.

Bishamon held up his sword in defense, blocking the fast and furious strikes of the possessed boy as best he could. With each strike, the demon samurai was pounded into the wall with incredible force, like a several ton hammer hitting him over and over. Even the demon blade Kien could not take this kind of punishment forever. In the split second between the strikes, Bishamon dodged to the side and immediately jumped away, leaving the wall to take the full force of the hit intended for him. The attack left a large set of claw marks on the wall, but the thing that shocked many people watching was the fact that the marks were blacked and melted, as if subjected to extreme heat. The hellfire fox turned towards his prey, the inside of his mouth glowing brighter by the moment. Bishamon's eyes widened as he quickly moved as a beam of black and crimson fire erupted from Naruto's mouth. The beam burned through the wall as it followed the samurai. However, as fast as he was, he couldn't avoid the beam. He cried out as he was hit by the intense blast of fire and sent hurtling into the horizon. Only the fact that he had his Dark Force active was Bishamon able to survive and not be turned to cinders.

The people in the stands stared in shock. All of them were nervous as they knew Dark Force was very difficult to control, especially one as powerful as this seemed to be. Those from the Leaf were terrified at the sight, particularly those who had lived through the Kyuubi attack. This by far was worse in their eyes as they could feel the power emanating from the kitsune. It was like all the power of Kyuubi had been condensed into a much smaller and even more lethal form, if that was even possible. They all shuddered as the infernal kitsune turned his attentions towards the stands, looking for new prey. His thoughts were chaotic as he tried to remember where he was and what was going on. The people in the stands feared for their lives as Naruto's eyes narrowed at them. Memories of his time in Konoha were raging through his mind, increasing his rage to unsurpassed level. The people in the stands began to panic as his entire body flared in preparation for a _Wildfire Tsunami_ of legendary destructiveness.

Before the enraged nine-tails could release his attack on those who had wronged him so badly in the past, chains erupted from the ground as a seal appeared around him the same way they had around Bishamon. Added to that, large tree limbs erupted from the ground along with several large glowing beads to further hold the kitsune. Hsien-Ko, Mei-Ling, Donovan, and Tenzo had all arrived after sensing the immense power of the nine-tails. At the moment, all four of them were attempting to reset the seal into "lock" mode and return Naruto to normal. While the seal would do this normally as it did contain a timer relative to Naruto's condition, they couldn't let him unleash his rage inside Konoha without a target like what Bishamon provided. The four of them strained to contain the enraged kitsune as the seal reset. Slowly and surely, the flames around the fox boy dissipated as the skeleton started to disintegrate. Naruto's feral form was revealed, now sporting three tails instead of two. The feral form gave way to Naruto's standard half-form as the demonic energy faded away. He slumped over unconscious. The invasion was over.

Nearby, in a cloud of smoke, two piercing green eyes watched the group that had contained Naruto with interest, specifically the Leaf Ninja Tenzo. 'A human that has a non-holy-or-dark method of containing demonic power, located in the same village as the Sharingan. Curiouser and curiouser. This bares more research,' she thought as she fingered a twisted blade that bore a resemblance to a butcher's knife.

**DARK TOME: Techniques**

**Mana Style: Shadow Chains:** A mid range spell used by various magic users that physically binds a target with chains. While similar in appearance to _Chain Crossfire_, this is different in that the chains continue to pull the target down as well as tighten the more they struggle whereas _Chain Crossfire_ simply creates chains where the user wishes.

**Mana Style: Binding Seal:** A mid range spell used by various magic users that contains various types of energy, even those used by various darkstalkers. When used on darkstalkers or humans, since it limits their energy, as a side effect it also makes it difficult for them to move, as if their very bodies become much heavier and sluggish.

**Soul Eraser:** A long range attack used mostly by demon type darkstalkers, specifically shifter types. The user shifts a part of their body into the form of large cannon to channel and focus their demonic energy into a powerful laser beam. While there are variants of this move in terms of style, it is still the same regardless.

**DARK TOME: ****Creatures**

**Main Type: ****Aquatic (lives in or near water)**

**Sub Type:**** Humanoid**

**Mermen**: Mermen social structure is different from a Monarchic Government or Imperial Rule. There are no royal families. Each king is chosen by the previous king. After obtaining the people's consent, the next king is chosen. Every Merman is given a rank, they are strongly united, and they keep a mutual trust with this. The ranks do not mean a social position but it is more used to give each one a job that suits them: those who gather food, those who protect their own from danger, those who create habitats, those who care's for the young, etc. Out of these many jobs, raising the young is usually done by the males. Similarly, the females are raised by their own mothers. In the case of males, their mimicking abilities are usually used to scale their strength level. It is important for those caring for the young to teach the young this ability. This mimicking ability is not just changing the appearance but to also use the ability of which they are mimicking. One who excels in this wins everyone's respect. Rikuo had cleared this ability beyond anyone else and thus is considered their leader. It can be said that, for his son Alba, he is the greatest teacher.

The merman race has reproductive periods. The average time for Merman's to lay eggs is around the human age of 16 to 22. They bear eggs two times within one year averaging about 10 to 20 eggs. On average, a couple lays 60 to 120 eggs. But only 10% of these eggs hatch and out of those in the Lost Zone, only 2 to 5 % of these survive. Since settling in the ocean around the shores of Nexus, that number has slowly increased. While they can live in either salt water or fresh water, most breeds of mermen have preference for one or the other just as most fish do and do best in that type of water.

AN1: For those want a better idea, look up "Iron Chain Dragon" from Yugioh.

AN: I hope everyone likes what I did here. Again, tried to make the fights even as possible. Thanks to all for the support and again, please Read and Review.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 34: Insanity's Aftermath

They say that war is hell. There are very few who would disagree with that statement. Natural disasters can also be considered to be glimpses into hell. However, in both cases, the aftermath of such things can be just as hard as the events themselves. The aftermath of the attempted invasion of the Leaf village by Sound and Sand villages was indeed just as hard as the invasion itself. While the Leaf had won the day with the assistance of Nexus, they had done so at a high cost. The damage done was massively extensive and repairs to the village would take time. They had also lost a decent number of their ninja, though not as bad if Nexus hadn't been there. Sarutobi, though alive, had been badly poisoned and was now confined to bed, leaving the village without any real leader and thus leaving the council in charge for the time being.

The real problem lay in the relations between Konoha, Suna, and Nexus. Through an investigation it was found that Suna had been duped by Orochimaru. The snake sannin had assassinated the Kazekage and posed as him during the exams. Apparently he had two goals. One was to destroy and or severely weaken Konoha and two, to plant a Cursed Seal on Sasuke Uchiha. As a result of this deception, Suna was basically surrendering to Konoha in order to make reparations, though the council in Suna didn't like it. However they really had no choice as they had been weakened as well by the invasion and the fact that their greatest weapon, Gaara, was currently indisposed due to the actions of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. The relations between Konoha and Nexus was mixed as well as strained. While many were grateful to the darkstalkers for helping to defend the village, a lot of people were … uneasy with them due to the events involving the spirit bees and Naruto. Many ninja who had witnessed the spirit bees still had trouble keeping down their lunch when they thought of it. The village had seen how destructive and truly vicious these darkstalkers could be and as a result were extremely weary of them, even if they were helping to rebuild the village.

As per the treaty signed before the invasion, a hive was being built for the spirit bees that would reside in Konoha led by E-Bee Beta. E-Bee Alpha was directing the bees that were aiding in the reconstruction and "improvements" to the village. The improvements included a port for sky ships and air ships as well as a train station that would run from Konoha to Nexus. Most of these things were being built exclusively by the spirit bees and other darkstalkers due to the tension between them and local humans. Buzzing could be heard all around the village as the bees flew with materials to rebuild. Whenever they would fly by, people, humans to be exact, watched them cautiously as the story of what had happened to the snake summons flitted through their minds. That story made it clear that while darkstalkers may appear human, they were anything but.

The highest amount of tension in air was without a doubt located at the hospital, specifically on the fourth floor where Naruto was located. After his seal had reset, he had been knocked out cold with his skin and fur badly burned from the demon fox's power. Even being the same type and a relative species of the demon, it was still way too much power for Naruto to handle and thus was a very lethal double-edged sword. As a result he had been unconscious for the past few days since the fight with Bishamon. His parents, sisters, and teammates checked up on him constantly. The nurses there, especially those who had lived through the Kyuubi attack, were extremely nervous and cautious. They were scared to death of facing that monster and never went near his room if they could help it. As a result, only the healers from Nexus bothered to look after him, specifically Alice. She had commandeered a section of the hospital for darkstalkers only and was now running it like she did her asylum, much to the gratitude and apprehension of the local doctors and nurses.

While Alice was human, though many would debate that, she disquieted the locals far more than most of the inhuman visitors could. Currently, the dark-haired woman was sitting in Naruto's room, going over some data she had recently collected while watching over the kitsune carefully. She had taken an odd interest in Naruto after learning of his history, studying his mental state due to his unique transition and experiences. How he had remained sane in this place considering what he went through was something of a pet project of hers. Alice honestly suspected it had something to do with the Kyuubi sealed inside him. For the time being however, that project was on hold for something she considered far more important. 'Interesting; two distinct bloodlines in the same village; that each have the ability to control and or manipulate demons. The history between the two is also curious. Both bloodlines sought to control this village and the one that won faded away while the other became a power in the village. As curious as this is, there's nothing about their connection to demons. I know that the Sharingan has a connection to the Kyuubi, whether or not that extends to other kitsunes or fire-type darkstalkers is unknown. As for the Mokuton, its connection to the tailed beasts of this world is still unknown. This bears more investigation,' she thought before speaking out loud, though very softly. "Blue Knight, I have need of you," she said clearly.

Next to her appeared a young ninja in her teens with long, black hair, dressed from head to toe in dark blue ninja armor with black highlights. On her left shoulder was the Nexus emblem and on the right was a jagged, hallow heart emblem that represented Alice's Asylum. The kunoichi wore a white mask with several blue swirls on it, similar to the masked worn by Mist hunter ninja. This specific ninja had been in Alice's employ since a year after their arrival into this world. No one knew where she came from other than Alice herself and many considered her to be the Head Doctor's right hand. "What do you wish Milady?" she asked quietly and formally as per normal interactions between the two.

"I want you to gather information about this Tenzo character, where he came from, what he's capable of, his relation to the First Hokage, and especially any information about the Mokuton," the woman instructed calmly.

Blue Knight nodded. "As you wish Milady. Should I continue to seek information about the Uchiha's Sharingan?"

Alice shook her head. "No. The Sharingan we've found is limited in its use, only working on the Kyuubi or at most creatures like it. The Mokuton on the other hand is known to work on many different demons and would be far more useful to my work. Besides, that Uchiha's boy's mentality is decaying at a steady pace, even faster thanks to that Curse Seal. I doubt he would be able to fully utilize his Sharingan even if he evolved it to the fullest. No, just leave him, if they ask me to treat him I will, but not before. If nothing else, we might gain some more insight into mind altering seals from his exposure," she explained as she looked through her notes again. Blue Knight nodded and disappeared in a flurry of snowflakes that evaporated in seconds, leaving nothing.

After the kunoichi left, a strange sound was heard and large crescent grin appeared in mid-air, full of sharp teeth, followed by two slanted eyes, and finally a body. It was feline in shape, about the size of a large dog, shaped like a twisted bobcat or lynx, with dark silver fur and black, rune-like markings. The cat's eyes and mouth were brightening and dimming with eerie regularity as it appeared, its long whip-like tail moving back and forth lazily. "So you're abandoning the boy? Quite curious, considering YOU were the one who released that seal in the first place," the Cheshire Cat said calmly in a regal type voice.

Alice just smirked at her familiar. "No need to be accusing Cat, I just loosened it a little, the boy did the rest. Besides, you and I both know the sorceress sisters will restrain it again, so in the end it doesn't matter," she said simply.

The cat's grin seemed to widen slightly. "Perhaps ... In any case, do you believe the Mokuton will be able to help her?" Cheshire asked seriously, both of them knowing to whom he was referring.

Alice sighed, finally putting down her notes and stared into the floor in thought. "Truthfully, I am unsure, but from the information gathered I am sure it has a better chance at success than the Sharingan. The seal research has also shown some promise in getting that … thing … under control," she spoke acidly as her mind turned to a specific patient being held in her asylum in the highest level of security and care. A woman, older than Alice and yet didn't look it at all, who had shown the Head Doctor incredible kindness when she herself had been a patient in place most would equate to a hospital from hell. Her mind flashed images of a place she wished she could forget, but were burned into her mind … Rutledge. The fire, the screams, the nightmares, the treatments, the Red Queen, it was all burned into her mind. Doctor Wilson had seemed kind at first there, but he showed his cruelty and slipped into madness just as the rest of the staff did with his so-called treatments. The only exception was a single nurse, known as Nurse D. to her at the time. She had been kind to Alice where many had condemned her as the most insane to have ever have entered that asylum. While that is/was true, Nurse D. had helped Alice in more ways then many could understand. Now, their roles were reversed, with the caretaker now the patient and the patient now the caretaker. If she didn't know better, Alice would swear she was in Wonderland again. 'I will help you Manase,' the Head Doctor thought with absolute conviction, 'I will not leave you to that nightmare.'

On the other side of town, high up in the Dark Blade, sat a young, red0headed woman in chains and chakra restraints along with a muzzle since the pirates on the ship finally got sick of her swearing, much to most people's disbelief. Tayuya of the Sound Four was royally pissed at the moment as she sat in a dark cell with only a single light to break the darkness. 'How the fuck did this happen!? That pirate bitch snagged me, pulled my pants up my ass, and then dumped me in this fucking cell on her ship! I'll kill them for this!' she thought wildly as her temper raged. She was broken out of her internal monologue by the sounds of someone opening her cell. Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed at who it was … Amethyst Heart.

The pirate walked in casually carrying a folding chair and a file. Sharkey was on her back asleep for the moment while Kir was in the Medical Ward of the ship recovering and subsequently charming the nurses there. She unfolded the chair and sat down in front of the fuming redhead. The girl in chains could only glare at the pirate with intense hatred as she casually opened the file and flipped through it. "Well then, Tayuya is it, I'm sure you're wondering what's gonna happen to ye now, ey?" she asked rhetorically. The redhead just glared. "Well, you have few options. Option one, you resist us in every aspect in hopes your so-called "master" will save you and as a result we destroy you in mind, body, and soul in order to get the information we want." Intense glare, the pirate smirked. "Option two, you give us the info we want and we simply imprison you for awhile before releasing you, in which you'll probably be hunted down and killed like a bilge rat." Scowl hidden beneath the muzzle, Amy just chuckled. "Or option three, you defect completely to Nexus, give us the info we want and help us nail that snake-bastard to the wall and you get a pardon and a nice new home and job." Raised eyebrows of confusion. "Look lass, it's not hard to imagine what Orochimaru would do to you if he ever finds you. Everyone who's ever met the bastard would say he would kill you for being a pansy and a liability, savvy?" the pirate stated bluntly to which the captive Sound ninja narrowed her eyes at the hidden insult. "Besides, where do you think you'll run to? Hidden Sound would kill you and every place else would either reject you or try to claim the bounty on your head. So what do you say?" she asked cheerfully, only getting a glare for a moment. "Oh … right," Amethyst said embarrassed as she removed the muzzle.

Tayuya worked out the kinks in her jaw for a moment before answering the pirate. "What's the catch and how do you know I won't betray you later," she said in forced calm, trying very hard not to curse. While she didn't like it, what the pirate said was true. Orochimaru would kill her for her "failure" at being captured and everyplace else would kill her for being associated with him. Plus she hadn't joined him because she wanted to; she had joined him out of survival. Now she was thinking of joining Nexus for the same reason.

Amethyst grinned. "Simple, first you need to have that cursed hickey of yours contained and or removed. Second, you'll be serving under my command as part of my crew whether you like it or not. Finally, as for you betraying Nexus … well as the old pirate saying goes, dead men tell no tales," she said with a feral grin, leaving no possibility of the phrase being misinterpreted.

Tayuya nodded and gulped at the implication. She had no illusions that they would kill her should she betray them and unlike Orochimaru who was human, an extremely twisted human to be sure but a human, these beings were anything but and thus played by a completely different set of rules. Plus she would be glad to get rid of the Cursed Seal on her neck. While the thing gave her power, it destroyed her will the more she used it. She had seen the effects on her so-called teammates and was not dumb enough to think that she herself wouldn't share the same fate if she over used it. The red-head was a survivor, thinking along the lines of "It's better to be at the devil's side then in his path" and right now Nexus was a far bigger devil than Orochimaru. "All right, I'll join your fucking crew and tell you whatever you want to know, just get me out of here!" she snarled.

Amethyst smiled and nodded, getting up to leave. As she opened the door she seemed to remember something. "Oh, one last note, in order to wipe out that damn hickey of yours completely we're gonna have to turn you into a darkstalker, so you won't be human any more. See ya later," she said closing the door with a chuckle

A minute passed before the pirate's words sank in. "WHAT THE HELL!?" rang out from the hold followed by a massive rant of curses and swears that are best not to be repeated.

Jiraiya ran like the hounds of hell were at his heels. Why was he running? Was it because of some super powerful ninja attacking and only he knew how to defeat them? No. Was it because he had to go save a helpless damsel in distress in a life-threatening situation? No. Was it because he had a super secret contact that he had only a limited time to meet with and gain valuable information? No. Was it because he was being chased by a hoard of pissed off women from the bathhouse who wanted to tan his hide for peeping on them to gain "research" for his novels? Close. What he was running from was the mousy form of Yomiko Readman, the librarian from Nexus that Naruto had set him for a date. 'Damn brat never mentioned she was a demon herself. I'm gonna kill him for this, I don't care if he's Minato's son, I'm gonna kill him,' he thought to himself as he ran along the rooftops trying to lose the literature demon. The date had originally gone well until he had mentioned that he was an author. After that things went to hell. She had gone from being a cute, shy librarian to the worst fan-girl in history. The dark-haired demon had immediately started firing question after question about his works and how he came up with such storylines and how he came up with such wonderful … "scenes" for them. She had even wanted to act some of them out. That wouldn't be so bad if her demon blood didn't come into play, which meant she wanted to do the scenes that involved bondage, torture, her being a dominatrix, and generally a lot of pain for Jiraiya. As they say, it's always the quiet ones you have to look out for, even more so for demons. The real kicker was when she started to seriously talk of marriage. At that point the sannin decided it was time to get the hell out of dodge. Too bad for him, the unpretentious looking librarian was actually quite skilled, especially at tracking, and kept up after him all over town. Anyone who knew of this would consider it either poetic justice or possibly a calling to the error of his intents, either way he was so screwed, or at least he was going to be whether he liked it or not.

Homura and Koharu stood in the Hokage's hospital room, thinking about what their next move would be. While Sarutobi was not dead and would probably make a full recovery eventually, he was in a coma for the time being and the village was vulnerable without a visible leader. While some of those on the civilian council were inclined to elect Danzo the new Hokage, the two old teammates knew that a war hawk like him was not what they needed now. They were broken out of their musings when a frantic and winded looking toad sannin entered through the window, quickly closing it and shutting the drapes. Homura raised an eyebrow above his glasses in question. "Jiraiya, we need to speak with you," he said seriously.

"Shhhh, keep it quiet or she'll hear you," the toad sannin said nervously.

Both of the old counselors looked confused until they heard a voice from outside. "Lord Jiraiya, come on out please! Don't you want to discuss chapter six of your fourth book?" a female voice cried out. Said author cringed as that particular scene involved the capture and sexual torture of one of his male characters. Considering the librarian's tendency to … "overact" the scenes; meaning that meeting her now would be worse than Anko on a rampage.

Both of the advisors shook off the strangeness of the self-proclaimed ladies' man Jiraiya running from a librarian to continue with their objective. "As you can see, with Sarutobi incapacitated, we require a new Hokage immediately," Koharu said in all seriousness.

The sex book author forgot his nervousness for a moment to answer her. "Forget it; I'd make a lousy Hokage. Besides I can be of far more help by maintaining my spy network. If you want a sannin to be Hokage, there is only option left," he said quietly.

The two elders glanced at each other for a moment before speaking. "Your teammate Tsunade. While she does have the lineage and her medical knowledge would be useful, she will be difficult to find and bring back," Koharu replied calmly.

Jiraiya nodded. "I'll be able to find her. I'd also like to bring a team from Nexus with me, specifically Team 7."

The two elders caught on immediately. "You wish to bring Naruto with you," Homura stated clearly.

The sannin nodded. "Yeah, I want to learn more about the new seal that holds the Kyuubi and how it relates to the boy. I also want to know how they changed the seal in the first place. His teachers were there when they did it so they may be able to tell me more as well as help convince Tsunade to return." The two elders nodded their agreement, knowing that people were still tense around the boy after seeing what he could become. They had nothing against the boy personally, but their first and foremost concern would always be the village. "I'll leave as soon as the boy recovers, which should be soon according to the doctors," he explained. Again, the elders nodded.

However, any further discussion was cut off when one Yomiko Readman burst into the room, wide smile on her face and a copy of Icha-Icha Paradise in her hand. Homura and Koharu blinked in surprise while Jiraiya's eyes went wide as he immediately opened and jumped out the window, not caring who saw him or what happened. "Lord Jiraiya, wait! We still have eight more chapters to discuss! How about over dinner!? Come back!" the woman cried and she jumped after him, leaving two very confused and amused elders.

**DARK TOME: Lost Zone Update**

**NOTE:**** Excerpt is written by Alice, Head Director & Doctor of Nexus Rehabilitation Asylum**

**Date****: 15 October 0007 A.E.**

It is always interesting to see how things react and adapt. No matter how many calculations and plans one makes, there is always that one element of chaos that changes everything, much to the annoyance of many Sparks. Since our entry into this world of ninja, the Wolfenbachs and many others have kept a close eye on our former home and what is happening to it. The results of their investigations are quite curious.

First and foremost, it seems the Lost Zone was not dying per say, but was instead experiencing a shift of sorts, much like how age of dinosaurs was ended partially by the Ice age, though this shift is much more than merely in climate. The entrance and elimination of Pyron caused a shift in the realms very energies. All the mystical energies that governed the Lost Zone had been severely affected by both Pyron's entrance and by Demitri's hiding and revealing of the sun. Those events caused a chain reaction, causing the entire realm to reorder itself, much like how Wonderland does from time to time though on a much larger scale.

The excursions into the Lost Zone have yielded very curious information. With the mystical energies of the realm reordering them-selves, it seems the very leylines have been reordered as well. Many mystics have long considered the displacement of leylines to be near impossible without a massive force of mystical power, much like how redirecting a good sized river takes a massive amount effort and coordination. Having ALL of them reordered at once has severely affected everything in the realm and anything that enters it. What makes this worse is the fact that many mystical locations that were built on leylines and leyline cross sections and use them for power are now malfunctioning badly and causing the surrounding areas to twist and warp into something new, again affecting anything in the region.

This also includes anything that enters the Lost Zone. Many have tried to introduce basic plants or animals into Lost Zone, such as simple apple trees or common deer, only to have them warped into things almost completely different than what they originally were over time, assuming they aren't destroyed outright due to exposure. Shinobi sent to the Lost Zone have reported severe difficulties in regards to their techniques. A normal _Shadow Clone_ would instead give the user a clone that would be their opposite in looks, personality, and ability. A standard _Great Fireball _jutsu would instead become overly powered, under powered, turn into an ice and or water jutsu, or even become some type of genjutsu depending on who and where it was cast. In short, it seems the entire realm is twisting itself into something new, though the end result is anyone's guess. The only conclusive evidence found is that this … change has been going on long before Pyron's destruction. What first set it into motion is also anyone's guess.

Subsequently, this idea of completely new creatures has got thinking about the Anita case. For the longest time we, meaning myself, Agatha, Donovan, and the sorceress sisters, considered Anita to be an extremely rare and mixed hybrid. However, if she is instead a completely new breed of creature or variant of an already existing species, then the implications of the restructure of the Lost Zone need to be seriously reconsidered. Also if she is what I'm beginning to suspect she is, then the Lost Zone and possibly Nexus may have a serious problem in the future. I look forward to seeing it this is true or not.

AN: Well, I hope you all like this latest chapter. I would like to address a few things. First, I got the idea for the Dark Tome from reading many other stories with letters, excerpts, and such at the end of chapters. I wanted to do my own version and give my story a little more depth without having the characters go into overly long monologues. As for why I call it Dark Tome, I got the name from the original Darkstalkers DVD which had an option called Dark Tome with information about Darkstalkers.

Second, I was asked in a review why the summon snakes didn't just go poof instead of being eaten. My explanation is that summons don't go poof until the chakra used to summon them is used up or they're dismissed. In canon, Manda was impaled by Gamabunta's sword and in a later fight killed after being summoned. Remember that according to my definition, summoning is pulling/teleporting a creature from one place to another, not simply creating a shadow clone of them. I think this is close to canon, considering how the Flying Thunder God technique is supposed to be based off of summoning.

Third, please, please, please stop asking me about Haku and Zabuza already. I'll put them into the story if it's appropriate, but I'm not going to add them simply because people keep asking about them. Yes they are kick-ass characters; which means it is likely I'll add them, but I'll do it when it's appropriate.

Also in regards to darkstalkers using chakra, not all of them can use chakra but all of them can use energy of some sort, be it spiritual, mystical, chakra, or some weird-ass combination. Also humans, and by association ninjas, can use the power of the Dark and or the Light, they just have never been exposed to it or shown how to use it in the same way darkstalkers weren't taught or exposed to chakra, but in this timeline that has changed. I'm seriously considering the possibility of someone like Deidara, Kisame, or even Orochimaru using the power of the Dark. Imagine the results of that mix!

In any case, thank you all for your support and please Read and Review.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 35: Debts, Meetings, and Appointments

Sakura Haruno was not happy at the moment as she stood in front of her mirror, checking her clothes and hair grudgingly. The entire Chunin exams had been a fiasco for her and her team. First, she had to make a promise to that pirate girl in order to get the scroll they needed which she was now getting ready to repay, whether she liked it or not. Next was the actual tournament. She and Ino had tied and neither had advanced to Chunin though supposedly Shikamaru, Tenten, and several of the Nexus Genin had advanced. Her beloved Sasuke had been beaten down by Naruto, a boy she wouldn't even have given the time of day when he had been in Konoha, though that was years ago. Because of Sasuke using the Curse Seal, he had been disqualified and rushed to nearest treatment center to have that thing on his neck restrained again. Her other teammate Sai hadn't even gotten a chance to fight so he didn't get to advance either. Then during the invasion she and Sasuke had both been useless. Sasuke had been out because he had just been beaten down by Naruto and herself for simply being too weak. Now with the village being rebuilt, Sasuke in rehab due to that Curse Seal, and Sai and Kakashi nowhere to be found, she was basically on her own as she got ready to repay her debt. She shook herself out of her thoughts as she heard her mother call for her, telling her that the time had come in a strained tone of voice. She went downstairs and met up with the infamous pirate girl herself, Amethyst Heart. 'Might as well get this over with,' the pink haired girl thought.

The pirate noticed the girl's discomfort and just grinned. "Ready for our date lass?" she asked casually. Sakura nodded and followed the pirate on their date for the day. Of all the things the pirate could've asked for, the pink-haired girl never suspected it would be a date after the exams were over. At the time, she had considered it a "noble sacrifice" in order to allow her team to advance. However, thanks to Sasuke getting beaten and the invasion, her sacrifice had been for nothing and what was worse was that she had no grounds to back out of it. Amethyst had given her a real exam scroll at the time, living up to her end of the deal and now it was time for Sakura to live up to hers, whether she or her mother liked it or not. This was going to be interesting.

On the far side of the village, two men stood in long black cloaks adorned with red clouds. The cloaks covered most of their bodies, leaving only their heads visible. One man had light blue skin with spiky hair and a large … sword on his back that appeared to be covered in scales. The other had slick black hair, pale skin, and burning red eyes. Both stood on the edge of Konoha, observing the maniac construction going on. "It seems we will have to delay our plans," the red-eyed one said calmly as he gazed at the sight.

The blue-skinned man snorted. "Oh come on Itachi, a few freaks won't stop us," he said with a shark-like grin.

"Those "freaks" as you call them are more dangerous than you think Kisame," Itachi said as he looked skywards to the spirit bees carrying materials. While they may have seemed to be casually working, the Akatsuki member could tell that they had already been detected by the bees and were being watched. Like with real bees, they currently weren't considered a threat, but if they caused trouble then the two would likely have a swarm to deal with. He had already attempted to copy some of the abilities of darkstalkers only find his Sharingan couldn't do it. It was no different then if he tried to copy a bloodline which made things a little more difficult then he would've liked. Fighting a single or a few bloodline users was one thing while fighting a small army's worth was another. It was a good thing their orders had changed from retrieval to observation. Originally the Akatsuki had planned to gather the Biju; however the plans had changed with the emergence of Atum-Coma along with the induction of a new member who had so far remained anonymous. Right now they had been sent to observe a certain individual currently in Konoha and gather any data possible. "Come on Kisame, let's go." The shark man snorted but silently followed his partner in search of their quarry.

Tayuya sat in the hold of the Dark Blade, thinking about what she had been told. True she was getting her freedom, but at the cost of her humanity. 'Well, what bits of humanity I have left anyway,' she thought wearily as she absently rubbed the Curse Seal on the back of her neck. While the offer of asylum in Nexus was much better than anything she would have initially hoped for, having to become one of those … creatures worried her. Would it change who she was? Would it make her stronger or make her into something she didn't want to be? For that matter, what kind of darkstalker was she going to become? She had seen many and had heard of many different types since being thrown into this cell just by looking out the one window that was in the room. Would she be a werewolf, a vampire, or something else? 'I'd rather not be an undead creature,' she thought as she gazed out the window, wondering what her future held. No way would she go through all of this to avoid dying just to end up dead … in a sense anyway.

Jiraiya waited for Nexus Team 7 to join him on the mission at the south gate of Konoha. Naruto had recently awakened and had quickly recovered after that, though not without a severe tongue lashing from his mother about him using his Dark Force. 'Considering the damage it did to the kid, I don't blame her,' the toad sannin thought as he waited. He had felt that power and quite frankly it scared him and that was saying something. He wanted to know more about this transformation and that was one of the reasons the Elders agreed to having Nexus Team 7 join him, so that he could find out exactly what they had done to the seal and to Naruto himself. While he had gotten the general version of events from Hsien-Ko, she hadn't provided him with any real specifics on anything. As a creator and manager of a spy network, he knew the saying "the devil is in the details" was all too true.

The toad sannin shook him self out of his musings as he saw the Nexus team approach, all in their true forms and looking a little cranky at the moment since it was the middle of the day. Naruto looked the crankiest about it though Hsien-Ko came in a close second. Both Anita and Mei-Ling seemed calm, though the old ninja could tell they were both annoyed by the time as well. Shiva also seemed calm though she was yawning as they approached. Mei-Ling was the first to speak. "Well then Jiraiya, we're here and ready to depart. Tell me, the woman we're seeking, she was your old teammate correct?" the undead priestess asked calmly as they all started out.

The toad sannin nodded. "Yep, Tsunade, granddaughter of the first Hokage and one of the greatest medics you'll ever find," he said calmly.

Shiva yawned again before asking, "What does this woman look like and how exactly are we going to find her?"

Jiraiya grinned. "Well she's about Mei-Ling's height with blonde hair and a really huge rack," he said with a perverted grin, causing Hsien-Ko to glare him, Mei-Ling and Anita to frown, Naruto to mutter something about pervert hermits, and Shiva to perk up a little. "Anyways, she'll be wearing a genjutsu to hide her age, making her look about twenty or so and while she is a legendary medic with super strength, she is also known for one other thing," he said with a grin causing the group to look at him curiously. "She's also known as the Legendary Sucker due to her gambling addiction and the fact that she has the worst luck of anyone you'll ever meet. My sources say she's on the run from some debt collectors in one of the small towns near the edge of Fire Country. We'll more than likely find her at either a casino or a bar," he explained.

Hsien-Ko grinned. "I hope so. Getting drunk sounds good after putting up with that merchant bitch who wanted cut my head off. Talk about holding a grudge!" she said exasperated. After she had been recognized by that particular merchant, the Kuang-shi had been receiving death threats semi-regularly from her and a few others. However, such things meant very little to one who was already technically dead.

Jiraiya gave her an odd look. "How could you get drunk? You're dead?" he asked genuinely curious. While he had learned quite a bit in the short time Atum-Coma had been revealed, there was still so much to learn about all the different types of darkstalkers.

The former hunter of the Dark shrugged. "So? Doesn't mean I can't try. Besides, it's not like I'll die if I drink too much," she said casually, causing her sister to shake her head in exasperation.

"Why did she leave Konoha?" Anita asked calmly, voicing the question Jiraiya would've rather not be asked.

They all looked at the white-haired man as he sighed, his good mood dimming. "She left because she believed the village was taking everyone she truly cared about. First her grandfather, then her lover and little brother, and then finally a man she looked to as a son. Ironically, all of them wanted the position of Hokage and thus she may have a slight problem taking up the position," he explained.

Most of them sighed while Shiva just smirked. "This is going to be interesting," she commented. No one argued with her.

Back in Konoha, in the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi Hyuuga sat in a meeting room with one of the few people who might be able to get his daughter Hinata, AKA Amethyst, back to the clan. The person he was meeting with was Shinara, the Sovereign of Sky Hold, the district in Atum-Coma that both Ruby Heart and Amethyst Heart were registered under. The angel was about Anko's height and wore robes similar to what a merchant would wear rather than a priestess or warrior as was common for angels. Her hair was pitch-black with her eyes being a bright purple. Like all angels, she sported a pair of massive, bird-like wings from her back that were colored various purples, reds, gold, and blues of a sunset sky. In her hands she held a thick notebook, crammed with papers and notes, all on various shipping and trade agreements. All in all, she was as rumors dictated, an angel obsessed with money over spirituality. The Hyuuga clan head sighed before speaking. "I'd first like to thank you for seeing me Sovereign Shinara. I know that you are a very busy woman," he said politely.

Shinara nodded. "It's no trouble Lord Hiashi. Now, what did you need to speak with me about?" she replied being as polite as possible. Working with darkstalkers as both a Monarch and a business leader taught her the value of using the "correct" mannerisms for each type of client. For example, when working with pirates is was better to be forceful and casual whereas with people like Hiashi, prim and proper was the way to go. "Now, what is it you summoned me for?" she asked with a calm smile, imagining the possible trade deals that were coming.

Hiashi sighed before speaking. "I wish to speak to you about Amethyst Heart," he said to the angel, making her confused. "You see, years ago my daughter Hinata was kidnapped by ninja from Lightning Country while under the guise of peace negotiations. When we tracked them down we had found the camp decimated and Hinata gone. It wasn't until later that we learned that she had been … "rescued" by sky pirates," the Konoha clan head explained.

Shinara's eyes widened as she quickly put the pieces together. Amethyst Heart was this man's lost daughter and was under her jurisdiction. She frowned; this was not what she was hoping for. She wanted to create some trade agreements with the Hyuuga, to have them work as customs guards in order to stop more contraband from entering her ports and thus increasing revenue. Instead, she had to deal with a family custody case that could potentially alienate her from one of her prime business partners. She sighed as she opened her book and began to page through it, just out of habit. "I see. Well, what exactly do you want from me Lord Hiashi? I can't just simply order her to go back to your clan. Not only would Ruby ripe my wings out, but she'd probably blast you into little pieces with every cannon in the fleet," she said frankly. "The only way I see her coming back to your clan is if she chose to do so out of her own free will," Shinara explained.

Hiashi nodded. "I realize that. However would it be possible to arrange to have her to come here to Konoha in regular visits?" he asked cautiously. Since there was no legal way to keep her here permanently, he opted to find a way to make her keep coming back to Konoha so that he and the clan would be able to become part of her life. Both he and the Elders knew they had to be careful in this or else Ruby might decide to wipe them out simply for being a nuisance. Yet they couldn't let someone of the main house be out of their control and more importantly, to Hiashi anyway, they needed to be a part of the girl's life as her family. The problem was that due to the equal legal claim both they and Ruby had on her, it all came down to her choice and Ruby already had a many years worth of an advantage on them. The only way they could get Hinata/Amethyst to return to the clan is if they could influence her into coming back and to do that she needed to be exposed to them repeatedly by having her return to Konoha.

Shinara contemplated for a moment. 'Perhaps I can use this,' she thought as she began to flip through her notebook on the future Konoha sky port that was being set up. Currently there was no one assigned to oversee that port as it was still pending until after the exams and the completion of the primary ship docks. With the exams over and construction already well on its way, she could easily assign the Dark Blade and its captain as the primary ship of the Konoha port. She turned to Hiashi and gave a smile similar to that of Naruto's when he was planning one of his great pranks. This immediately put the Hyuuga clan head on alert. "I think I have a solution for you, but I'll require something in return," she said as she slipped into "bargaining mode" with twisted grin that was normally seen on demons but looked perfect on the greedy angel. Hiashi sighed as he immediately knew that they were going to be here for awhile.

In a casino in a small town on the outskirts of Fire Country, a blonde woman was not having fun. Even though the woman was winning, spectacularly at that, she took no joy in her winning. In fact, anyone watching her would guess that the winnings themselves were causing her to frown. The truth of the matter was that yes, the fact that the she was winning and very much at that; was what was causing the sour look on her face. The woman was the slug sannin Tsunade, infamous medic and even more infamous gambler with a losing streak as long as Ruby Heart's rap sheet. It was because of this immeasurable losing streak that whenever she started to have a winning streak, not unlike the one she was currently having, she knew something terrible was going to happen. Whether it was some type of warped precognitive ability, karma, or simply the universe screwing with her, Tsunade knew that the larger the winning streak, the worse the situation was going to become. Shizune, her assistant, on the other hand thought it was great that they were going to be able to pay off all their debts if this kept up. "Wow Lady Tsunade, if you keep winning like this we might actually have some extra spare cash for awhile," the dark-haired girl said happily while holding a pig, Ton-Ton, who oinked in agreement.

The blonde older woman scowled. "Shizune, we're leaving now," she ordered sternly as she grabbed her winnings.

The younger medic was surprised at her mentor's actions. "What? Why? You're on the largest winning streak I ever seen you on Lady Tsunade! Why would you want to leave now?" she asked confused.

As the two left the casino, the assistant got her answer in the form of two people standing outside waiting for them. One was a young grey haired boy with glasses and the other was a pale faced man with long black hair and his right arm missing. "Hello Tsunade, it's been a long time," Orochimaru said calmly with a smile.

**DARK TOME: ****Creatures**

**Main Type****: Any**

**Sub Type:**** Varies**

**Hybrids:** With so many creatures in one place, cross breeding is pretty much impossible to avoid in Nexus. This cross breeding results in and from many different things and situations. Generally, hybrid darkstalkers have many advantages and disadvantages in comparison to their pure bred relations depending on what the mix is. First off, hybrids are usually a mix of anywhere from two to sixteen different darkstalker species. Anything more than that and the bloodline becomes unstable even with fully compatible species. Too many conflicting traits enter into the bloodline and cause it to degenerate as a result unless more of a previous species in the mix is added to help stabilize it. This is all assuming that all the species used in such a mix were 100 percent compatible. If not, then degeneration is likely to occur in smaller mixes, even those involving just two different species.

The creation of hybrids can result in many different ways. The most well known way is through the mating of two different species of darkstalkers. This is generally how many hybrids are formed and tend to be much more stable than hybrids made through other methods. Another way hybrids are created is when one type of darkstalker is infected and or changed by another, such as if a vampire attempted to "convert" another pure bred darkstalker into a vampire. These conversions tend to have a lower compatibility than those born naturally since the host darkstalker's body will attempt to fight the conversion much like it would a virus or infection. A third method is if the hybrid is created artificially through magic or science. These are hybrids that start out as hybrids, but because the mix was artificial rather than natural, they too have lower compatibility than those hybrids that are naturally born.

As you may have noticed; compatibility matters a great deal when speaking about hybrids. Some types of mixes are generally much more compatible and thus more likely to happen than others. A good general rule of thumb is that darkstalkers of the same Main Type and or Sub Type but different species are far more compatible than those of different Main Types or even different Sub Types. A common comparison would be a werewolf/catwoman hybrid to a succubus/angel hybrid. Werewolves and catwomen share the same Main Type and Sub Type, giving them a high percentage of compatibility. Succubae and angels however, don't have similar Main or Sub Types, giving such a union a very low percentage of compatibility. That is not to say such unions are impossible, just extremely rare. Also it is important to note that the lower the percentage of compatibility, the higher chance that the resulting hybrid will be either very powerful and or unique, assuming the hybrid survives into adulthood.

One main problem with hybrids is their chances of surviving into adulthood. These chances are generally reflected in the compatibility of their parents. If the parents have a high level of compatibility, then it is very likely that the resulting hybrid will have few biological problems growing up into adulthood. However, if the parents had a low level of compatibility, then the hybrid will likely have a number of physical and possibly mental problems due to the conflicting bloodlines and the powers, instincts, and general natures that go with them. In general, once a hybrid reaches maturity most types of problems iron themselves out assuming they have been addressed earlier. If not, these problems can continue and become permanent, making the lifespan of the hybrid in question much shorter than it should be. Once a hybrid does reach adulthood, assuming any problems have been addressed and at least attempted to be corrected, then the hybrid's "species" will generally be much greater than either of the parent's species in terms of power and abilities.

The main thing with hybrids is that they tend to contain all the strengths and, depending on the mix and compatibility, anywhere from the same to none of the weaknesses of the species involved in the mix. Many even develop powers and abilities that neither parent species has as a result of the mix. This is why hybrids are respected, investigated, and feared by various groups. As mentioned in an earlier entry, crossbreeding of species is frowned upon and severely discouraged by the elder generations. This is due to fear of the hybrids usurping power from the elders and or the parent species being replaced by the new breeds. However the younger and or more liberal generations view crossbreeding with interest as the resulting hybrids tend to have a lot of power, which counts for quite a bit with darkstalkers. They also tend to view it not as the hybrids replacing the parent species, but instead as the evolution of one or all of the parent species or even the creation of a completely new species. The jury is still out on which views are more accurate and it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

The most common type of hybrid is the half-human. These are the half-human and half-something else hybrids that appear quite often in Nexus. The reason for this is because human exist all over in Nexus and are compatible with almost every type of darkstalker in existence with very few exceptions. In fact, there are a few species of darkstalkers that rely on breeding with humans in order for their kind to survive. Half-humans are unique among hybrids in that they generally receive lesser versions of the parent darkstalker's powers and very few if any of the weaknesses. With time and experience, a half-human's power can equal or dwarf that of a pure bred darkstalker and still have few or none of their weaknesses. There are also plenty of ways for a half-human to become a pure bred, either through magic, science, or simply through time and biology such as how little girls born to catwomen eventually become cat girls when sired by a human. However, half-humans also run the risk of their human half being devoured by their darkstalker half should they not learn to control, accept, or integrate with it. Though that is rare in Nexus, it did happen often in the Lost Zone before the exodus into the new world. Nowadays, most half-humans are treated little differently then their pure bred relations, human and darkstalker.

**Well known Hybrids:**

**NAME – Mix - Creation**

Naruto Talbain – Wolf/Catwoman/Kitsune - Created

Shiva Maximof – Succubus/Vampire - Born

Axel Raptor – Banshee/Zombie – Created

Anko Mitarashi – Human/Naga - Created

Donovan Blaine – Human/Vampire – Born?

Anita Blaine – Unknown/Suspected Hybrid – Unknown

AN: Hope you all like the latest chapter as I'm setting up for a couple of things in the future. Again, any suggestions for DARK TOME appreciated. Also, any ideas about what type of darkstalker Tayuya should become? I already have a few ideas but I would like some outside input. Please keep in mind that she'll be a sky pirate, so take that into consideration when suggesting.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 36: Decisions and Consequences

A red headed ninja sat in a waiting room on the giant air ship, Castle Wulfenbach, awaiting the results of her DNA analysis. She had come here to choose what type of darkstalker she would become and quite frankly it scared the girl. While some of the darkstalkers she had seen weren't so bad, others just freaked her out … and she had lived with Orochimaru! 'Could be worse I guess. At least I get to choose what I'll become depending on how many options I get,' she thought wearily. She had already spilled her guts to that weird ass zombie during interrogation which only solidified her conviction in that she was making the right decision. Fighting other humans was one thing, but how in the world would she kill something that was already dead? 'Hell, my Genjutsu might not even work on half of the creatures here,' she thought as the door opened and out walked Agatha Wulfenbach and Alice. The red-headed former Sound ninja shivered at the sight of the emerald eyed doctor. 'Orochimaru may be creepy, but he's got nothing on that chic,' she thought. "So what are my options?" she asked as she attempted to reign in her swearing habit around these people. She had seen what this … Spark and doctor did to those who upset them. Tayuya was never going to look at plungers and white rabbits the same way ever again, poor bastard.

Agatha smiled brightly. "From my analysis, we've concluded that due to your sound manipulation abilities you're very compatible with several types of darkstalkers," the blonde haired woman said as she led the red-head into the lab. Tayuya was on alert; she could tell the Spark was going to say something she would not like. "Even better is that we found they were very compatible with each other."

Tayuya raised an eyebrow and cautiously asked, "And that means what exactly?"

Now Alice smiled, causing the girl to gulp. "It means that instead of choosing just one darkstalker species, we're simply going to make you into a hybrid of several species. Saves time and effort that way," she said.

Before Tayuya could protest, metal tentacles wrapped around her arms and legs and dragged her onto an operating table where she was immediately restrained. "HEY, WHAT THE HELL! I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING LAB RAT YOU SHI …" The red-head began to yell before a restraint clamped over her mouth much to the twisted delight of her two captors.

Alice just smiled as she brought out an injection needle filled with an unknown blue liquid that was glowing softly. "Don't worry, this is only a sedative mixed in with some special chemicals as well as painkillers to prepare your body for the transition and make it as painless as possible," she explained sincerely. Though many would argue it, Alice was not a sadist … at least when it came to her patients. Prisoners however, that was a completely different story and something most people would not want to get into … ever. Tayuya struggled to stay awake as the concoction took hold. The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was both Alice and Agatha wearing twin twisted smiles at her and holding tools and scalpels.

In the gambling town Tsunade was located; Shiva flew up high looking down for the blonde-haired woman. The group had separated to increase their chances as they were positive the medic sannin was here. The fact that the historic castle was demolished gave a big indicator that she was here or at least something of interest was. The destroyed wall was also an indicator of her presence. The reports of a large snake however, gave indication that Orochimaru was also in the town. Either way, it was worth it for the group to check it out.

Like most darkstalkers that could fly, she was gifted with keen eyesight, allowing her to spot "prey" from high above. Below her, searching in the same area she was surveying was her teacher Hsien-Ko in human form, much to her displeasure. While darkstalkers were accepted in Konoha, for the time being anyway, they were just starting to filter into the other Elemental countries and with the stories of the Spirit bees, Bishamon, and Naruto's Dark force circulating, it was better to ere on the side of caution until they found Tsunade and discovered her view on them. "Hopefully we will find this woman quickly, I have a date to keep and this sunlight is not helping," Shiva said to herself as she glared at the sun. While not as affected by it as a normal vampire would be, she still had a lower tolerance for it than most people and like many darkstalkers, hated being out in broad daylight. She shook her head and kept looking, trying to find any blonde in the crowd below that might fit the description of Tsunade.

Mei-Ling sighed as she thanked another merchant. So far their search had been fruitless. A few leads here or there but nothing too solid. Anita stood next to her, gazing at the crowd with her normally emotionless eyes, trying to sense anything unusual. 'This woman is proving to be quite difficult,' the former hunter of the Dark thought as they went on to the next casino in the area. In her defense, she was used to tracking down darkstalkers or at least darkstalkers in human form, not actual humans. Before she could dwell on it longer, Anita suddenly stopped, turning to look down another street. Mei-Ling looked at her charge, wondering what had caught the girl's attention. "Do you sense something?" she asked quietly. More than once, the girl knew things that even her and her sister couldn't sense. It was actually disturbing at times, even to them.

"This way," the red-headed girl said simply and began walking in the direction she was looking. Hsien-Ko raised an eyebrow in curiosity but didn't argue. Despite her age, Anita was able to do things with both magic and jutsu that she and others still couldn't completely understand. One of those things was the ability to sense unique forms of life in a given area. No one was sure how she was able to do this, but Anita could find just about anything or anyone as long as what they were searching for was unique enough in comparison to the rest of the area. Given the fact that they still weren't sure what she was, they assumed it was a "natural" ability of hers.

Naruto frowned as he waited for Jiraiya; working with the rubber ball he had been given. Ever since the group started this trip, the toad sannin had decided to start training Naruto's team for various reasons. One was because he wanted to see how well darkstalkers adapted to human techniques and what they could do with them. Second was that, unknown to the group, he was Naruto's godfather. He had originally left the boy in the village in order to protect him. However finding he had failed, he resolved to make it up to the boy now by teaching him his father's techniques, starting with the Rasengan. It also gave him an excuse to run the boy into the ground as payback for setting him up with Yomiko Readman. The sannin involuntarily shivered, 'That's probably the only young woman I would ever run away from.' As he was training the boy in his father's techniques as well as various ninjutsu, he also taught his two teammates as well, mostly because the boy refused to leave them behind, much to Jiraiya's amusement. For Shiva, he had started teaching her various genjutsu. The hybrid picked them up almost as fast as Naruto did ninjutsu. Apparently she loved the idea of being able to screw with her opponent's minds before finishing them off. Anita on the other hand was much harder then the other two. The girl's chakra was truly something he had never encountered before and had never even considered before he learned of darkstalkers. Due to her vast range of spells and jutsu, he decided to train her up in taijutsu. It would give her something to fall back on if needed. The creepy girl just nodded and accepted the lessons. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling supervised all his lessons whether he allowed it or not. They were not going to let him corrupt their students into perverts, well public perverts anyway, especially in the case of Shiva.

The two left the tavern, not finding out anything useful. As the two walked towards another tavern under the moonlit sky, they could hear a woman exclaiming loudly in what sounded like concern. "Lady Tsunade, you can't seriously be considering saying yes, are you!?" Naruto and Jiraiya looked at each other and nodded, Naruto tapping his radio to signal to the other two groups where they were before walking in. As soon as they did, a busty blonde woman looked up from the sake she was drinking and scowled.

"Well what do you know, it's Jiraiya. It's becoming a regular reunion," the woman said sarcastically. She then noticed Naruto standing next to him and the resemblance he bore to Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. "And who's this brat?" she asked snidely. "I'd have thought you would've given up on apprentices after you last one. It's not like anyone could measure up to him and I certainly doubt this kid could," she said as she downed another glass of sake.

Naruto growled while Jiraiya just chuckled. "You of all people should know not to judge someone based on their looks Tsunade," he said teasingly, earning a glare in return. The toad sannin sat across from his old teammate while Naruto sat next to him, across from the young woman sitting with the blonde medic. The woman started to shuffle some cards with both of them remaining silent, each trying to read the other. Neither seemed to notice when Hsien-Ko, Mei-Ling, Shiva, and Anita walked in and sat with them. She started to deal to the two of them. "Judging from your earlier statement; Orochimaru paid you a visit?" he said calmly.

Tsunade picked up her cards, her face emotionless as she spoke, despite being drunk. "Yep. He said that he had killed Sarutobi. Is it true?" she asked.

Jiraiya nodded. "Not quite. Sarutobi is in intensive care due to poisoning, but he's still alive. Orochimaru invaded Konoha with his Sound Village and tricked the Sand village into helping him by pretending to be the Kazekage. He and sensei went at it with the Youkai Kage aiding. The result of the whole mess was the village in disrepair and Sarutobi in critical condition, leaving the village vulnerable. To that end, the Council of the Village Hidden in the Leaves in their wisdom; have named you the Fifth Hokage," he stated in all seriousness. Everyone had different reactions. Naruto, Hsien-Ko, and Shizune's eyes all widened in surprise, Mei-Ling and Anita frowned slightly, and Shiva just grinned. Tsunade herself was impassive, seemingly more interested in her cards then in what she had just been told. Both picked up cards, changing their hands, faces still impassive.

"I decline," Tsunade said simply, much to their spectator's shock. "Only a fool would take the job of Hokage, or any Kage for that matter. In the end it's all the same, giving up their lives for their village. Life is not like money, it can't be gambled so recklessly. There is nothing to be gained from that job other than dying needlessly. Anyone who would take that job is a fool," she said calmly with a slight edge of bitterness to it.

Jiraiya and Anita were impassive, Hsien-Ko, Mei-Ling, Shiva, and Shizune were frowning, and Naruto was outright glaring and growling at the woman. Before he could act however, Shiva and Anita each grabbed an arm, preventing him from vaulting over the table and attacking the slug sannin. Tsunade herself didn't seem concerned until the vampire/succubus hybrid spoke. "Do not waste your time Naruto, this is not Tsunade," she stated clearly, much to the confusion of those listening. "This is merely a pathetic imposter attempting to gain fame through Tsunade's looks and attitude. I sincerely doubt the real Tsunade would be such a coward or such a disgrace to kunoichi, medics, and to the family she had lost. Indeed if this were the real Tsunade, I would bet anything that her brother, grandfather, and her lover would be rolling in their graves at the degenerate coward she has become," Shiva spoke while focusing and modifying her haze on Tsunade herself to get her to react. Normally succubae would do this to ensnare a victim or victims into having some fun with them; however this technique had other uses, such as making the target react more emotionally rather than logically. This could be used in battle to force an opponent to make a mistake or to make someone blurt out some vital information in an emotional moment. In this case, it was to get the slug sannin to react more. Coupled with already being drunk, Tsunade was getting more and more pissed at their words.

The others, getting the idea, joined in with her taunting. "Yeah you're right. No way could the legendary Tsunade be this old, washed out hag I mean, sure one sannin is a self-proclaimed super-pervert and another is a traitor, but at least they're both still ninja. I mean for a sannin to become a gambling addicted drunk is just pitiful. That is some weak sauce," he stated simply. Anita just nodded while Hsien-Ko just grinned and Mei-Ling sighed at their antics.

"Weak sauce?" Tsunade said dangerously calm. "That's it brat, lets step outside and we'll see who has the weak sauce!" she yelled, stomping outside in a drunken rage. The group followed, wanting to see Naruto go up against Tsunade.

Outside, the group stood to the side while Naruto and Tsunade faced off, both pissed at the other for what had been said. Naruto was mad at the slug sannin for bad mouthing the Hokage and Kage in general and Tsunade was ticked at Naruto for calling her a washed out hag. While the Nexus residents and Jiraiya weren't too worried about Naruto, Shizune wasn't sure what to think. While she knew of Jiraiya through Tsunade's drunken ramblings, she had no idea who or what this Genin team was and what they were capable of. She looked to the side to see the purple clothed woman, whom she assumed was one of their Jonin teachers, sipping on the sake Tsunade had in the tavern. "What are you doing?" she asked surprised.

Hsien-Ko glanced at the younger woman, apparently unconcerned. "No sense in it going to waste," she said casually as she threw back another round without care.

"Aren't you worried?" Shizune pressed. Hsien-Ko just shrugged in response.

Mei-Ling spoke. "There is nothing to worry about. There is more to Naruto then what Tsunade realizes." At that moment, Naruto shifted into his half-form, surprising both Shizune and Tsunade.

The slug sannin's eyes widened as the Genin gained fangs, claws, fur, fox ears, and three fox tails. Even being drunk, she knew she was facing a darkstalker which sobered her up … a little. Though she hadn't run into darkstalkers before, she had run into her fair share of weird-ass bloodlines and knew to expect anything from them. Still, there was no way this kid could beat her even if he was a darkstalker. "One finger, that's all it'll take to take down a brat like you," she stated clearly.

"We'll see about that," he stated as he brought his fingers together in a familiar cross shaped seal. Multiple copies of Naruto appeared and flared up for a _Beast Cannon Barrage_. Tsunade's eyes widened as all the clones flared up, engulfing themselves in energy. Immediately they all launched themselves at the slug sannin, hoping to get her to go on the defensive. While Naruto hoped the attack would do that, he knew it wasn't likely even with Tsunade drunk. So while that happened, he prepared a _Rasengan_. Though he had just started learning it, he was already able to form a complete _Rasengan_ relatively quickly using a little shortcut. At first he had used clones to help form the shell, but that proved to be time consuming and risky. Instead, he had figured out how to do the same thing using his tails instead. It allowed him to form it much quicker than with clones and he could do it (technically) with one hand. He still had trouble with controlling it at full power, but at he had least mastered the second stage and it could still do some damage.

Tsunade jumped backwards to avoid the onslaught as the clones crashed into the ground, causing massive explosions and kicking up a huge dust cloud. 'Kid's trying to make me get serious, how rude,' she thought as she dodged the attacks. However, before she could think on this further, Naruto burst out of the large dust cloud, holding a swirling sphere of chakra that was extremely familiar to the sannin. Her eyes widened and for a moment, a transparent image of a young, blond haired man overlapped the form of the kitsune. However, the image faded when she realized he was coming at her with an incomplete _Rasengan_. She slammed her finger into the ground, causing an explosion and throwing Naruto back, the _Rasengan_ dispelling. The darkstalker quickly got up to his knees only to see the blonde kunoichi in front of him ready to flick his forehead.

The slug sannin smiled and flicked her finger at the boy. However, instead of connecting, she hit nothing but air. Confused, she blinked a few times before she realized she was holding her hand above a medium sized, three-tailed fox. Before she could do anything, the fox ran and went into the last place anyone would believe … right up Tsunade's pant leg.

Anita and Shiva were both grinning at the show. Mei-Ling and Shizune were trying very hard not to laugh and failing. Jiraiya and Hsien-Ko on the other hand were laughing like loons at the sight of Tsunade wiggling, squirming, and laughing from being tickled by fox fur as she tried to grab the little kitsune that was burrowing under her clothes. While it was nearly impossible for Naruto to do any jutsu in fox form, he was able to do modified versions of both the _kawarmi_ and _henge_. In this case, he was able to use the _henge_ to make himself smaller than normal in order to avoid attacks, such as a strike from a super-strong, drunken sannin under the influence of Shiva's haze. Naruto moved as quickly as possible, avoiding the pissed off sannin's attempts to pull him out of her clothes. It looked like Tsunade was trying to do a crazy dance while laughing and cursing at the same time. Suddenly, Naruto's foxy face popped up from between her breasts, startling her for a moment. Showing a fox grin, he gave her a lick on the nose and then dived back in. However, before he could get all the way in, Tsunade grabbed him by two of his tails, ripped him out and flung him at the watching group, most of which were laughing at the whole thing. Anita opened her arms and caught the fox, despite the force behind the throw. Naruto just grinned again and gave Anita a lick this time, causing the girl to blush a little, though nowhere near as red as what Tsunade's face was at the moment.

Jiraiya just laughed loudly before speaking. "Nice one kid! You'll do fine under my tutelage," he exclaimed proudly. Oh yes, this kid would go far.

Mei-Ling cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention before Tsunade go off on a rant against the toad sannin and the fox. "Well as entertaining as this was, we really must continue our search for the real Tsunade to be Hokage. The last thing we want is an imposter to take the position as she would probably be a poor Hokage anyway," the undead hunter said calmly, much to the ire of the slug sannin.

Tsunade, still slightly drunk, embarrassed to no end, with her emotions running wild from the "fight" and from Shiva's haze, spoke without thinking. "I AM NOT AN IMPOSTER! I'll prove to you I'm the real Tsunade by being the best damn Hokage you've ever seen!" she yelled before breathing hard.

Mei-Ling just softly nodded and pulled out a contract she had brought with her just in case they got Tsunade to agree. It was to make sure the blonde woman couldn't back out once accepting the position before actually getting to Konoha. Once there she would have to act as Hokage for a certain amount of time before actually being able to leave the position. It was deceitful, conniving, and sneaky. In other words, it was the perfect way to rope her into the job. "Sign here please," she said simply, holding a pen. The medic did so without a second thought, her apprentice Shizune staying oddly quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Once it was signed, Shiva finally let up on her haze, allowing Tsunade's mind to clear much more to her own horror as she realized what she just did.

A good distance from the group on a rooftop, a young man with white hair and glasses watched the scene with a frown. 'This is not good. With Lady Tsunade becoming Hokage, Lord Orochimaru will have to go without his arm for longer than necessary. We will have to adjust our plans somewhat,' Kabuto thought before disappearing, not wanting to risk being detected.

The next morning, the group headed out on the road for Konoha, most of them happy except for Tsunade who was grumbling about the whole thing. Curious, Hsien-Ko asked a question that had been bothering her. "Just out of curiosity, what did that jerk Orochimaru offer you anyway?" she asked casually.

Tsunade didn't answer, however Shizune did. "He … offered to bring back her lover and younger brother back from the dead for healing his arm. He said that we'd need two live sacrifices to do it though. He also said that he planned to destroy Konoha regardless of what we decided," the black-haired girl said solemnly.

Hsien-Ko snorted. "Two sacrifices? One a piece? What an amateur," she said surprising Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya. "He obviously only cares about the end result and not the method if he's using one sacrifice a piece to raise two humans. How pathetic," she said distastefully. "When we get to Konoha, let's send a message to Atum-Coma. We could probably get the Wolfenbachs to resurrect them or possibly a local necromancer. What's the going rate for two full resurrections?" she asked her sister, much to the surprise of the Konoha ninja.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute! You're telling me you can bring people back from the dead?" Shizune said surprised.

Mei-Ling spoke this time. "Depends on what you mean by "back from the dead". If you mean undead, like my sister and I, then yes that's pretty common. Being remade by a spark into a construct is also pretty common. If you mean back to full life like yourself, then that may take a bit more but certainly not two full human sacrifices, not for two humans anyway. It also depends on if the subjects want to come back to life. If they don't then it's just cruel to even attempt it. I've met those who were brought back against their will and it was not pretty," she explained. Tsunade went quiet at that, contemplating what was said as they continued back to Konoha.

Tayuya woke up to a splitting headache. Those two crazy bitches really did a number on her. "Owe, what the hell…" she said as she got up off the hospital bed she was on. The smell of cleaners barraged her nose as her eyes tried to refocus. Worst of all her ears were ringing though she wasn't sure of the sounds she was hearing. She brought her hand to her head and then she noticed something. Her hand was a claw, covered in dark red fur, and was larger than a normal hand, about one and a half times as big. The red-head's eyes widened as she looked to see some kind of large flap of skin extending from her arm. A wing, she now had wings on her arms. Dressed in only a thin hospital gown, she was able to easily look at herself and was shocked to see her whole body covered in short, dark red fur with dark purple stripes and a small tuft on her chest just above her breasts the same color as her hair which was still bright red. She could barely form coherent thoughts as her hands explored her new form. Her feet were now claws just like her hands and were digit grade, as if she were walking on the balls of her feet. Behind her, extending from the base of her spine just above her ass was a short tail, only about a foot and half long. Her hands went up to her face immediately after discovering that. Her face was mostly the same, just with a very thin covering of soft, dark red fur. It was when she moved her hands to the sides of her head that she noticed something very off. She immediately ran for the bathroom and was shocked at her reflection.

"Oh fuck no, you've got to be shitting me" she muttered as she saw herself. She was a bat, a big humanoid bat with purple striped dark red fur, wings on her arms, fangs, claws, and two large bat ears on top of her head that were twitching with her agitation. On top of being a bat, she was now taller than before and shapelier. Tayuya's figure was now fuller and would knock most men out from the nosebleed alone. However, despite this improvement, she was still stunned at being a bat so she did the one thing most normal people would do in such a situation … she screamed. What came out though was something far more than a scream. A piercing, high pitched wail, like the sound of death itself, came out and everything around her started to shatter. First the mirror and windows, then anything ceramic, and suddenly the whole room started to shake and fall apart. Before it could progress any more, Tayuya was whacked hard in the back of the head, causing her shriek to stop. She turned around to see Alice calmly standing there looking slightly annoyed.

"If you're quite done, we can start the examination to make sure the procedure went smoothly," the head doctor said as quietly as possible, though it was still loud and clear to Tayuya's new ears.

"What have you done to me!?" the red-head asked as hysteria started to creep into her voice, which now had a much more musical tone to it than before.

Alice sighed as she was used to this sort of thing. "We did what we said we do, turn you into a darkstalker in order to remove all of Orochimaru's influence. As for the type of darkstalker, I think we choose well in mixing a few. The base is that of a demon bat, obviously, a bit of harpy for the claws, with siren as well as the energy from a banshee mixed in to enhance your voice a little more given your use of sound based attacks," she explained as Tayuya listened carefully, taking it all in. She looked down at her claws, slowly grasping that she wasn't human and would never be human again, just to be rid of Orochimaru's taint. Seeing her distress, Alice placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. "I know this was a bit extreme, but look at this way. In this form you're stronger in every way, Orochimaru will never know you exist nor will his seals work on you, and you get to start over in a place where you won't be considered a freak or even an outcast." She paused for a moment looking the red-head over. "Quite the opposite really considering the effect the siren part of the mix had on your figure," the dark-haired woman said with a smirk. The younger woman scowled at her, causing Alice to laugh lightly. "Now then, let's get you examined and then have you fitted for some proper clothes. After that we'll get you settled in and then see if we can get you some flying lessons," Alice spoke as she started to list off a schedule.

Tayuya just scowled again before speaking. "Well fuck me sideways," she stated exasperated as she followed the apparently disturbed head doctor.

**DARK TOME**

**Myths:** Despite being a place where the most unbelievable things happen daily, myths and legends still appear in Atum-Coma. Though specific legends vary from species to species, there are a few widely known legends that many still believe and or debate about on a regular basis. Most of these general myths have to do with things that affect all darkstalkers or is somehow related to them all. The following are a few of the more common or well-known legends in Atum-Coma. Please keep in mind that these are myths that everyone in Atum-Coma knows. Each species in Nexus also has their own unique legends specific to their race that is usually only told to members of that race with very few exceptions, mostly because only those of that race are interested.

**The Pumpkin King:** Jack Skellington, more commonly known as the Pumpkin King, is a demonic, humanoid skeleton that is considered to be the king of Halloween and of fear itself. Though no one is quite sure of what he is or where he came from, he is said to appear during Halloween to scare any and all. However, despite being an envoy of fear, he is said to be a kind, if excitable, and friendly fellow. It is said that Jack wants to cause fear so people can enjoy it, much in the same line as when people go on scary rides or haunted houses at amusement parks. It has also been said that he goes after those who truly deserve to know fear, those that abuse the power of fear and forces them to take a massive dose of their own medicine. All this is just speculation and rumors as he has rarely if ever been seen and reports on him are sketchy at best. Despite this evidence, or lack thereof, the Pumpkin King is still regarded as a well known and well liked legend, displaying what many consider some of the best parts of being a darkstalker: being able to scare the living crap out of anyone, doing good deeds with his abilities, being powerful and well known, and being able to slip into the darkness unseen. Most consider him a regular folk hero.

**The Boogie Man:** For every folk hero, there is usually a villain. In this case, it is the Boogie Man, also known as Oogie Boogie. Like Jack Skellington, he's closely associated with Halloween and lives to cause fear and terror, but unlike the benevolent Pumpkin King, he desires the type of terror that comes from fearing for one's life. Oogie wants to cause as much pain, fear, and mischief as possible, making it so people are in a state of fear constantly, especially young children. It is also because of this that descriptions of the Boogie Man widely vary, usually taking on one of two popular images. One is that of a mass of demonic insects in the loose shape of a man, sharing a hive mind and bound in old retched sack. The other description is that of a light-blue skinned humanoid with a large head and demonic appearance. In both cases, he is said to be viciously cruel and ruthless in his quest to cause fear, even so going so far as to nearly kill his targets in order to get the desired response. The reason for this, according to local lore, is that he desires to known as the king of fear over Jack Skellington. Like Jack Skellington, both are said to feed off of fear, but use that power for vastly different reasons.

**Jabberwocky:** One of the most legendary beasts of all time, the Jabberwocky or Jabberwock. Though no one know what this thing looks like other than having "eyes of flame", it is rumored to be one of the most dangerous creatures in existence, even to darkstalkers. It is said to have been spawned from both the very powers of the Dark and insanity resulting from them and seeks nothing but chaos and disorder. The Jabberwocky has been said to be cruel, vicious, heartless (both literally and figuratively), and very powerful, even rivaling or surpassing that of a Biju. The reason for this is, supposedly according to local lore, the Jabberwock is able to tear apart the mind of any creature it encounters. How or why it does this is unknown. Curiously, the only one who can give an actual, full detailed account of meeting a Jabberwock is Alice of Nexus Rehabilitation Asylum. However, because it is Alice, most people take her tales with a grain of salt and a shot of whiskey.

**Samhain:** A powerful and thoroughly malevolent spirit, rumored to be the purest manifestation of the evils associated with Halloween. The spirit of legend is supposedly a goblin lord of incredible power, able and quite willing to wreak havoc and spread mister on a truly horrific scale during the few hours each year when if manifests itself in our earthly realm. Its appearance is said to be that of a large, humanoid, tattered black cloak with long, thin, demonic arms, and a large head in the shape of a pumpkin. It is widely agreed that Samhain can only appear from sunset on Halloween, October 31st on the modern calendar, to sunrise on All Hallows Day, November 1st. No records we know of ever reported an encounter with the creature at any other time. For this, many who believe in the legend are thankful. Folklore suggests that it have had an existence as a Celtic god – and before that, a similar entity appears in pictographs dating as far back as ancient Phoenicia. Both spirits were known to cause mischief and grief in their night abroad and both were held at bay by fire or light from any source. No one truly knows if this creature exists or not but some claim that it was the cause of the existence of darkstalkers through either direct intent of causing its mischief year round or as a side effect of its actions. Folklore details are sketchy at best.

**The Void (Nothingness): **This is one of the most persistent rumors/myths circling in Atum-Coma. While the existence and power of the Light and Dark is well known, rumors claim there is a third power called Void, also known as Nothingness. While Light and Dark oppose each other and ally/empower beings related to them, Void is supposedly neutral and bears no distinct preference in any shape or form. In general while the Dark would support chaos and Light order, Void would theoretically support balance if anything. However all this is in theory only. Though many have tried to harness the supposed power of Void, none have succeeded or even proven its existence, which is ironic given its name and nature. The main problem comes from the fact that no entity known can use this power and thus many doubt it even exists. Those who are able to use both the Light and Dark have theoretically came the closest to discovering Nothingness, but have yet to do so. The only real thing given credit to Void's existence is tests and experiments run by both sparks and various magic users on the powers of the Dark and Light. All of them point to the real possibility of a third power to act as a buffer between the two, a shade of gray as it were. Until actual evidence can be found, Nothingness will remain little more than a rumor.

AN: I know it's been a while, but my muse decided to take a vacation as I just wasn't sure how to do this. In any case, for those wondering why no fight scene, you have to understand that while Orochimaru is ungodly arrogant, he is not stupid enough to take on the two other sannin, two undead sorceress sisters who easily subdued Gaara and three darkstalkers with one arm gone and with only Kabuto as backup. The DARK TOME entry on Samhain I got from Tobin's Spirit Guide from Ghostbusters, modified to fit this universe. I figured it would be an interesting addition. In any case, thank you to those who have reviewed and for your support.


	37. This Our Hidden Village of Halloween!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 37: This, our Hidden Village of Halloween!

At the desk in the Hokage's office, a busty, blond-haired woman grumbled as she continued to sign paper after paper for the repairs and upgrades to Konoha. She was still a little peeved about being tricked into this job, but she decided to bear it for multiple reasons. The first is that the village had acquired all her debts and wanted payment in terms of service rather than money, much to her annoyance. The second was the medical knowledge from those in Atum-Coma. As much as she hated to admit it, she was a little behind in medical practices, but was quickly caught up and already looking for ways to improve them. Third was the fact that Agatha Wulfenbach was working on a way to restore Tsunade's and Jiraiya's youth to help face the challenges ahead with both Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. They had also offered to bring back her lover and her younger brother from the dead, but after Mei-Ling's explanation and some thought, she decided not to request it. They had both gone down doing what they were trained to do and for causes they believed in, like all ninja wanted to. There were also a few personal reasons for taking this job. One was that despite it being a ploy to get her to take the job, what Shiva and those of Nexus Team 7 said to her were true. She had become a disgrace to those she had loved and to her family. So she had resolved to make up for lost time while being Hokage. Another was that, like Jiraiya, she was curious about Naruto, the son of a man she practically considered her own son. In any case, she had more important matters to deal with at the moment other than the rebuilding of Konoha and adjusting for its Nexus immigrants. Today was October 31st, All Hallows Eve, Halloween.

The blonde-haired Hokage watched as the sun slowly set, silently counting down to when the holiday would officially start. All day there had been preparations all over by Nexus immigrants and local villagers who were getting into the holiday despite not having a clue to what it really meant to those from Nexus. As the sun finally dipped past the horizon she heard a strange sort of music starting up from the town square, though it was heard clearly throughout the entire village. "This is going to be a long and interesting night," she said not knowing how right she was.

(AN: The following will be done to Marilyn Manson's version of "This is Halloween", modified a little.)

Axel Raptor stood on a stage with a skeleton band (literally skeletons) in the town square as she started playing. A strange mist seemed to appear from everywhere as darkness enveloped Konoha at a frightening pace. Those from Konoha stared at those from Nexus as a disturbing change seemed to settle over them and the village at the exact time the music started. All those from Nexus became more … feral, darker, twisted in some subtle way that hung in the very air. It was as if they were all transforming into the things that nightmares were made of right before their eyes. It was at the exact moment when the zombie/banshee hybrid on stage started singing that they realized just what this holiday really was.

It was at this moment that all of the darkstalkers started to sing in chorus to the song, increasing the aura of that was Halloween. Many of which started to dance in time to it, such as the catwomen who loved doing this every year. This year was even more special as it was the first in both the new world and in Konoha.

**Boys and girls of every age  
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?**

**Come with us and you will see  
This our town of Halloween**

**This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night**

**This is Halloween, everybody make a scene  
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright  
It's our town, everybody scream  
In this town of Halloween**

Shiva flew in to the center of the dancing, her eyes blazing red with power and her fangs glistening in the full moon light. Her wings much larger than normal and her haze turned up full blast on everyone in the area, enhancing Halloween even more as she sang and danced her part in this song.

**I am the one hiding in your bed  
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red  
**

Shiva flew to the side as Verity-Y erupted from the ground in the center of the performance, her arms bearing _Serpent Snappers_ on her arms that looked more like small Chinese dragons this time rather than the usual snakes. Also on top of her head were a couple of small, demon spiders that were usually only seen on this one night out of the year. She sang and twirled, her _Snappers_ lashing out like their namesakes.

**I am the one hiding under your stairs  
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair  
**

The two started to sing together in harmony, their voice resonating all over the Village Hidden in the Leaves joined by the voices of the catwomen in a female chorus for this part.

**This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!  
In this town we call home  
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song  
**

Axel was having the time of his unlife. Usually it was his "father" who performed this but now it was his turn and he was going to enjoy it like to no end. He sang as he gestured to one of the sky ships that were flying low, specifically the Dark Blade.

**In this town, don't we love it now?  
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise**  
**Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can  
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll...  
**

Amethyst jumped down, along with Ria and Mia, and landed at that exact moment and joined into the dance, Sharkey and Kir joining her while her sister and father watched both fascinated and scared at what they were seeing from the side of the Dark Blade. The three sang as they joined the movements of the other dancers on the rooftops.

**Scream! This is Halloween  
Red 'n' black, slimy green  
Aren't you scared?**

Now it was Anita's, Mei-Ling's, and Hsien-Ko's turn, appearing in a mass of smoke and twisted energy. Mei-Ling gave off an aura of a powerful sorceress, Hsien-Ko that of a true undead creature, and Anita that of something truly not of this world, or any other for that matter. They sang their part in a haunting symphonic.

**Well, that's just fine  
Say it once, say it twice  
Take a chance and roll the dice  
Ride with the moon in the dead of night  
**  
**Everybody scream, everybody scream  
In our town of Halloween!**

Naruto now appeared in flash of smoke, dressed in a more elegant version of his usual outfit along with a white fox mask similar to what Anbu wore. It was now his turn. Every year he did this to kick start his night of tricks, treats, and driving everyone to insanity. He sang his part, ripping off his mask revealing his blazing red eyes and fangs before disappearing in a cloud of smoke again.

**I am the clown with the tear-away face  
Here in a flash and gone without a trace**

The kitsune continued to sing, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere like the prankster that he was. He had been doing this for a few years

**I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"  
I am the wind blowing through your hair  
**

High above them all, Jack smith appeared on the side of the Hokage faces, his shadowy form outlined in pulsing blue neon light, his eyes also pulsing blue. Like everyone else, he too was affected by Halloween, becoming more demonic looking as he sang his part in front of the whole village.

**I am the shadow on the moon at night  
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright  
**  
**This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!  
Halloween! Halloween!  
**

Leon Wulfenbach appeared with a squad Huitzil flying in a circle formation around the stage, all of them brandishing various blades and spikes as their eyes glowed an ominous red. Leon sang his part as the clanks did a type of sword dance with their blades.

**Tender lumplings everywhere  
Life's no fun without a good scare  
That's our job, just as you've seen  
In our town of Halloween**

In this town  
Don't we love it now?  
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise

Now everyone sang, gather in the square where a massive spiral of energy seemed to be building up. Out of it came the ghostly form of a scarecrow with a jack-o-lantern with a head. The scarecrow's head lit ablaze as the ghostly form of the Pumpkin King awakened and began to dance as well, spewing twisted fire as it did.

**Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back  
And scream like a banshee  
Make you jump out of your skin  
This is Halloween, everybody scream  
Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy**

Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin patch  
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!  


The scarecrow's flame erupted all around it, engulfing it as it transformed into a phantasmal visage of a demonic skeleton in a black suit with white pinstripes. It raised its arms and the fire twisted upwards in a massive helix, forming the face of a massive, grinning jack-o-lantern in the sky. The infernal creation seemed to be laughing as it spun around. The entire square was filled with darkstalkers, humans, and everything else, all dancing to the music.

**This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!**

In this town we call home  
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

**La la la la-la-la**

**La la la la-la-la**

**WHOO!**

Thunderous applause erupted from everywhere as All Hallows Eve officially began. The fire in the center of square died down a little bit to a large bonfire, though the flames kept changing colors from time to time. After the opening act as it were, people started to disperse out into the village for the various festivities. On a rooftop nearby, Naruto stood looking down at the crowd with an evil glint in his eye. In his hand was a scroll with his latest Halloween prank sealed inside. What were sealed inside were costumes, hats, makeup, and various things from the Aurora Eye Opera House. These weren't normal props, no not at all. These props were enchanted and magic level items. What they all did was "help" whoever was wearing them get into character. It wouldn't change who they were exactly, it would only make them into a version of that character with the wearer as a base. For example, a top hat could turn even the most rude and surly of men into a refined gentleman version of that person but only for as long as the show went on. In this case, the show was Halloween itself, so whoever got stuck with any of these would be altered for the whole night. Naruto just chuckled evilly at the thought of the chaos he was going to cause with this. He packed away the scroll and dashed off into the night, looking for his first victim.

--Location: Town Square—

Shikamaru, Chouji, Temari, and Kankuro walked along the street as people and darkstalkers went off to enjoy the night. The sand siblings had come to Konoha to help find a way to control Shukaku. The shadow user wasn't sure what to think about all this. It was like a switch was flicked in every single one of the darkstalkers, causing them to all become far wilder and monstrous. It was a little disconcerting how some of them gazed at the humans as if looking at slabs of meat. There was also the feeling of camaraderie between them all, even the humans. It was almost paradoxical the way the two auras mixed and yet they just seemed to work. 'Troublesome,' he thought as he walked with the group. Despite the strange things going on around them, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being stalked by someone or something and it was making him uneasy. He could see the others in the group also sensed something but none of them knew where it was coming from with all the chaos around them.

High above them on a rooftop, Naruto watched his first target with an almost sadistic glee. The kitsune unrolled his scroll and selected two items that would bring some wonderful results along with a video camera he had borrowed from Leon. He created several clones and ordered them into position around the group below; this was going to be fun. He readied his smoke bombs and waited until the group was just below him. Once they were in position, the fox struck.

The smoke came out of nowhere, blinding the group of four from whatever was "attacking" them. The people around didn't seem too concerned, as if this was a regular occurrence. Ironically, to some it was. In any case, the smoke only lasted two seconds before Temari blew it all away with her fan while Kankuro and Chouji readied to counterattack only to find no one there. However, those two seconds in the smoke was just enough for Naruto to make his move. Once the smoke was cleared, the group turned to see Shikamaru Nara standing stock still … with a dark green, metal, bowl-like hat on his head with several small black lines on the front. Kankuro was the first to speak. "Hey, lazy bones, you okay?" he asked while holding Crow up ready to go. Immediately, Shikamaru's attention turned on him as he stood with his hands behind his back, eyes hard as he glared at the black clothed Sand ninja. Immediately, all of them realized something was off as Shikamaru spoke in tone similar to that of a strict war veteran.

"Okay soldier, what is that?" he said pointing to the wrapped up Crow.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow in confusion before replying. "You know what this is. It's my puppet," was all he was able to say just before Shikamaru cut him off, getting literally in his face.

"All right paint face, how come every other private in this man's army has a kunai and you've got a puppet!?" he all but yelled. Kankuro sputtered trying to respond before Shikamaru grabbed Crow and ordered him, "Drop and give me 30 … NOW!" Kankuro had no time to think and immediately started doing pushups while Temari and Chouji just watched stunned. "Attention!" Kankuro stood up, his back straight as he was unsure as to what was going on. "About face! Forward MARCH!" Kankuro did as ordered, marching away with Shikamaru barking out "Hup 2, 3, 4" as they did.

Temari stood stunned as her brother was led away by Sergeant Shikamaru. "Well now what?" she asked as she turned to Chouji only to find he had gone stiff just as shadow had a few moments before. It was then she noticed that he had a strange, fuzzy head band on his head. "Uh … Chouji?" she asked cautiously. Almost instantly she regretted it as the power of the headband took over and he started … to do an exercise routine.

The Naruto clones, from a nearby rooftop, could barely contain their giggling as they recorded the antics of Sergeant Shikamaru and Chouji Simmons with the video camera. The kitsune had left the clones behind to record the results of his first two victims while the original went off to after others who were on his list. If his parents and victims didn't skin him alive after tonight, he would surely win Nexus's Funniest Home Videos for this.

--Location: Konoha Outskirts, near forested area—

Near an area where some catwomen were holding an all night dance fest, four of Naruto's targets stood watching. Hatake Kakashi, Asuma Sarutobi, Maito Gai, and his prized student Rock Lee were all watching the various dances the catwomen and other darkstalkers did. The fox grinned at the sight, summoning a dozen clones in readiness for his next strike. 'It'll be tricky, but oh so worth it,' he thought as they all moved into position.

Lucy grinned as she watched her follow felines' dance in unison before chugging back another pint of beer. They did this dance party thing every year and it was a blast each time. Many of them would literally dance through the whole night without a problem. As she set her mug down, she caught a scent in the air that she immediately recognized. 'Naruto, he's here!' she thought wildly as the catwoman looked around anxiously. Normally she'd be glad to see the fox boy, but not on Halloween. Meeting him on this night of all nights meant getting pranked worse than most could imagine. The last time she had been hit by him on Halloween had resulted in her looking like a large puff pink ball for days due to static electricity and colored paint. Before she could ascertain his position, the kitsune struck. Smoke bombs timed with the end of the current song so that no one reacted right away other than her a couple others who had smelled him as well. However, it seemed she wasn't the target this night and instead it was the four leaf ninja who had also attended the dance party. There were sounds of a surprised struggle. Once the smoke cleared, Lucy and several others did a double take at the leaf ninja.

Asuma was now wearing a fedora hat and holding a silver coin. Almost immediately he started to flip it over and over. His posture became that of a criminal, someone who was always on edge and looking over their shoulder. Maito Gai was now wearing a black jacket with a white sequin studded glove. His movements changed as well, going from forceful and highly expressive to much more smooth and subtle. His student Lee was also sporting new clothes, a leather headband with Celtic knots stitched into it along with a dark green vest with similar designs in gold. The most dramatic change however was Kakashi. The lazy copy-cat ninja was now sporting a large white afro, white coat and pants, and sun glasses.

Many catwomen's eyes widened as they recognized the costumes and knew what they could do. As a result, many tried to hold in their snickers as the clothes took effect. Asuma started to flip the coin over and over while leaning on a nearby wall, going from Asuma Sarutobi to Mugsy Sarutobi. The other three ninja however all hit the dance floor, joined by various darkstalkers who were getting a real kick out of this. It seemed even with the clothes, Kakashi and Gai still competed with each other with Lee joining in this time. Disco Kakashi started off, with the dance floor lighting up to the song "Flashdance". Behind him were a number of Rabbids were copying his movements despite being a lot shorter then him. Lights flashed as a disco ball appeared, illuminating everything in multiple colors. The song ended and was replaced by "Thriller" as Moonwalker Maito Gai stepped up with a number of zombies behind him. It was a Halloween classic that the undead danced to every year with this time being made even more memorable by Naruto's prank. The real kicker however came when Rock Lee, Lord of the Dance took the stage with a number of catwomen joining him in the fun. Irish music filled the area with the song "Lord of the Dance". Everyone clapped along with the beat except for the Naruto clones that were videotaping the whole thing. None of these ninja were ever going to live this down if they had anything to say about it.

Far away from the prankster kitsune on the sky ship Storm Breaker; Amethyst Heart, Ruby Heart, Hanabi Hyuuga, and Haishi Hyuuga were all enjoying a massive party being put on. Well, to be more accurate, Ruby was enjoying getting punch drunk while forcefully getting Haishi drunk with Amy doing the same or at least attempting to with Hanabi. Kir watched the proceedings with glee as the various pirates danced and sang. It was interesting to see what alcohol could do to people. For example, it made Ruby less coy and made her about as loud and boisterous as any other pirate, though she was still just as weird. Amethyst was similar, though not being weird, she instead developed a strange kleptomania when drunk and was robbing everyone around her without even realizing it. The main difference from her normal stealing habits was that she wasn't being picky and was taking anything from gold, jewels, and weapons to underwear, trinkets, and even pieces of junk. Her younger sister, while not nearly as drunk as Amy, was getting a little silly and was laughing at just about anything. The funniest one though was Haishi as it seemed the more alcohol you poured into him the less prim and proper he became. The Hyuuga head was currently shoulder to shoulder with his arms wrapped around Ruby and a large, drunk, shark-like pirate with all of them singing "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" very loudly and off key with the music.

Kir took a swig of his glass while looking over the festive scene. As he did, the bird noticed a feminine figure standing by herself near the stern of the ship. It was the recently transformed bat girl Tayuya. She was just standing there gazing at the festivities below the ship. Never one to leave a lady in distress, the crow flapped over and landed on the railing next to her. The redhead didn't seem to notice as she seemed lost in thought. Kir decided to break the silence. "So my lovely lady, why you standing up here when the party is down there?" he asked sincerely.

The bat lady looked at the bird, not saying anything strangely, and sighed. She looked at her hands … claws before speaking. "I've never been much of a party girl," she said quietly, too lost in thought to swear like normal.

The talking crow wasn't convinced. He had seen that look she was wearing many times before on humans who had recently become darkstalkers. It was fear or more accurately a fear or sense of loss of their humanity and of self. In many people's eyes, what they physically were was the base of what they saw themselves as. It was especially important to humans as when they became something else; they figured that the loss of their humanity would mean the loss of who they were. Well then it was Kir's duty to try and cheer her up. "Ah come on, I bet you'd be great at the karaoke contest. With your perfect pitch you'd win first place for sure," he said with a wink. The red-head just stared blankly into the night, saying nothing. Kir sighed before deciding to stop beating around the bush and just say what the girl needed to hear. "Look, I know you don't like not being human anymore, but that's not a bad thing." He now had her attention as she turned to look at him. "Look at it this way, which would you, rather be like, Orochimaru or Ruby Heart?" He got a scowl for that. "Okay, not the best comparison. How about Orochimaru and say Felicia Talbain?" he tried again.

At that comparison, the girl frowned in thought. The bird did have a point. While Orochimaru was human, he wasn't a being she would want to be compared to. On the other hand, from what she had seen of the catwoman, she was pleasant if a little too perky at times. In the end, what had really changed about her? Even though it was only a week or so after her transformation into this bat creature, the red-head wasn't sure. Still, sitting around and gripping about it wouldn't do her any good. She turned to the black-feathered bird with a small grin. "When was that karaoke contest?" The bird just grinned.

Naruto jumped from roof to roof, looking for his last victim of the evening. The person he was going for was the almighty Sasuke Uchiha. This was going to be the crowning jewel on his prank for this Halloween. The arrogant human had it coming for some time and it would be funny as hell what he had planned. The kitsune chuckled evilly as he finally spotted the Sharingan user.

Sasuke was sore, both literally and figuratively speaking. Not only was his mark from Orochimaru sealed again, this time even more thoroughly than before, but he had also not been promoted to Chunin like he had planned. He was now further away from taking out his brother than ever before. The Konoha ninja had been walking around all evening brooding, more or less ignoring the festivities while occasionally avoiding being blown up, charmed (literally and figuratively), ensnared, fed upon, and generally anything that he would consider weird, which was quite a bit given the night. As a result, he wasn't completely aware he was being stalked by a darkstalker with devious plans.

Naruto looked at his watch, noting the time. The night was waning and if he wanted to get the full effect of this prank, he had to do this quickly. Deciding to forgo stealth in this case, he decided to go with sheer numbers this time. Summoning a legion of clones he attacked. Sasuke tried to hold them off, but was unable to stand up to the sheer number of clones. The fight was heard but no one cared, not on Halloween anyway. Besides, the clones weren't trying to defeat the Uchiha, but subdue him long enough for one of them to get him with a specific costume article, a highly stylized, black wig with extreme sideburns.

Sasuke tried to resist the wig's influence only to fail. After his bout with the curse seal, his will couldn't stand up to something like this. Gone was Sasuke Uchiha, Sharingan user and Konoha ninja, in his place … was Elvis Uchiha.

Axel Raptor continued to rock on the main stage all through the night. He had gone through any number of songs and was planning to go through more when someone joined him on the stage. They were wearing a white outfit with sequins, black stylized hair with side burns, and a pair of shades while holding a guitar of their own. It took the zombie a minute to recognize the Uchiha and the wig he was wearing. He chuckled as he thought to himself, 'Looks like fox-boy has outdone himself this year.' The zombie just grinned like a madman as both he and Elvis Uchiha started playing _Rock Around the Clock_. It may not have been Axel's usual style, but on Halloween, what the hell.

The night was slowly ending as Naruto sat on top of the Hokage monument, specifically the Fourth's head. He had gotten a few more pranks in after turning Sasuke into a rock star. He had turned Ino into a French stereotype, Sakura into a pirate much to Amy's delight, Kiba into a cat, Tsunade into an opera singer, Jiraiya into a Benedictine monk, and threw the rest of the clothes and props into the wind, watching and recording the chaos it all caused. But as with all things, it was coming to an end as the sun was getting ready to peak over the horizon thus ending Halloween and the costumes' effects. "This is gonna be good," the fire-haired kitsune said to himself as he waited like the Grinch with his hand to his ear, waiting for the sound that he simply had to hear. The sun peaked and the village went silent as everyone and then some realized where they were and what they were doing all at the exact same moment.

Sasuke stopped at the end of a song as he realized what he was wearing and that he was on stage with a number of his fan girl staring at him.

Shikamaru stood still as he realized as he noticed he was commanding a troop of ninjas who now looked afraid of him.

Chouji stopped and looked at exactly what he was eating, diet food that he would normally never touch.

Kakashi, Maito Gai, and Rock Lee stopped dancing and stared at each other.

Ino stared at the cigarette she was smoking and then at her reflection in a window which sported a black and white striped shirt, black beret, and red scarf.

Kiba was on top of a fence with a fish in his mouth with Akamaru staring at him worriedly.

Tsunade stood silent on a stage in a fine dress as it sunk in what she was doing.

Jiraiya paused in the middle of taking a vow of chastity, blinking owlishly at the monks around him.

Sakura woke up next to a grinning Amethyst Heart, both naked in her bed on the Dark Blade.

Hiashi Hyuuga and Ruby Heart woke up together, also in bed nude on the Storm Breaker, staring at each other blankly for a moment.

The moment of silence was broken by every last one of them yelling at the exact same time, saying the exact same thing.

"WHAT AM I DOING!?"

Naruto grinned before yelling out for the entire village to hear, "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" before collapsing into a fit of laughs that made it extremely hard to breathe.

Kir woke up hugged to the chest of one sleeping red-headed bat lady next to the first place trophy of the karaoke contest. The bird grinned thinking, 'Can't wait until next year.'

**DARK TOME: Creatures**

**Main Type:**** Created**

**Sub Type:**** All**

**Life Elementals:** While elementals are well known, life elementals are unique in nearly every way in comparison to other elementals. For starters, unlike other elementals, a life elemental (LE) cannot be classified as either physical or metaphysical since they contain traits relevant to both as well as traits unique to them alone.

Firstly, like all elementals, a LE will seek out things/places/people similar to itself, places abundant in life such as cities or forests and or beings with incredibly strong life forces such as darkstalkers or powerful holy people. However unlike other types of elementals, a LE will also seek out things/places/people that are the exact opposite of themselves, places of death and decay, objects of destruction, dealers of death. When a LE encounters such a thing, it will immediately attempt to "correct" the problem or eliminate it outright. It is important to note that a LE will only do this to things that kill and or destroy indiscriminately or for absolutely no reason at all. A LE will not bother with creatures that choose targets for a reason, such as an assassin going after a corrupt leader, as long as it doesn't result in more death than necessary. While this willingness to kill seems to go against the very nature of LEs, it has been hypothesized that for there to be new or continuing life there must also be a certain amount of death as well to preserve or enhance it. One thing about them that makes many people classify them as metaphysical elementals is the fact that they generate an aura that affects anyone or anything living (in any sense of the term) around them. This aura increases vitality, abilities, and the general health of whatever is in their range in proportion to how powerful the LE is. However unlike metaphysical elementals, this aura is much more subtle and is actually very difficult to notice if a one isn't looking for it.

A LE's body is also unique. At first glance, it would appear to have the characteristics of a metaphysical elemental in that LEs take on the form of civilized beings rather than just being made up of their element. However, upon closer examination it is shown that LEs are made up of their element, specifically life energy itself given physical form. LEs contain every form of energy found in anything that could even be remotely classified as alive. An interesting note is that if they somehow encounter a completely new form of life, they will automatically take a sample of that new life's energy and replicate it, adding it to their "collection" of energy. Also different from other elementals is the fact that they tend to stay in a single form for almost all of the time, rarely shape shifting to anything else.

Another major difference between LEs and other elementals is intelligence and personality. Unlike other elementals, LEs always have above average human level intelligence and are actually able to ignore their instincts if they want to. As a result of this and their aura being so subtle, they can blend in rather easily if they truly want to. It is currently unknown how many, if any at all, exist or what they're fully capable of.

**Side note by Alice, Head Doctor of Atum-Coma Asylum:** If my hypothesis is true and Anita is a life elemental, then logically there must be something to balance it, in other words; a death elemental. If such a creature exists, then it will most likely seek out a place of death similar to itself, like other elementals. However, there is also the possibility of it seeking to cause death, in which case it will search for the purest form of life, a life elemental.

If such a creature does exist, it will most likely be in the Lost Zone where Anita was "born". In fact, there are no records of any kind to suggest her parentage or where she came from. The only thing known was that she was the only survivor in a town completely slaughtered by darkstalkers who were slaughtered themselves. When asked, she herself has no memories of before that town and the attack. I may have to delve into her mind to find the answers.


	38. Final Disclaimer & End Theme

Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Final Disclaimers

The following characters belong to their owners and not to me in any way. I am making no money off this at all.

Darkstalkers (series in general): Belongs to Capcom

Ruby Heart (Marvel Vs. Capcom): Belongs to Capcom

Naruto (series in general): Belongs to Viz Media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Agatha Heterodyne, Gil Wulfenbach, Klosp I (Webcomic – Girl Genius): Sudio Foglio

Yomiko Readman (Read or Die): Belongs to Hideyuki Kurata, SME Visual Works

Sharkey the Shark Sword (Comic – Lullaby): Belongs to Alias Comics

Kir (Jing the Bandit King): Belongs to Yuichi Kumakura and Aniplex

Alice (American McGee's Alice): Belongs to American McGee

This is a list of all characters that specifically belong to me.

Axel, Mia, Ria, Verity-Y, E-Bee Alpha, E-Bee Beta, Jack Smith, Leon Wulfenbach, Shiva Maximof, Shinara, Amethyst Heart (if you count her as separate from Hinata)

All Dark Tome entries belong to me.

Any minor characters I missed belong to their respective creators.

Now onto the Ending Theme, Darkstalkers style.

Trouble Man by Eikichi Yazawa

Gonna be trouble

It's gettin' out of hand

Gonna be trouble

But baby, I'm the man

I'm gonna save you

I'll be your knight

I'll be your saviour

How 'bout tonight? YEAH!

Gonna be trouble

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Want a fighter? Come on--

But don't you understand?

I can't be double

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Baby, don't you worry

Not gonna run away (I can't)

Baby, don't you worry

Yeah man, I'm here to play

Do you wanna start up?

Don't mess around

Just come and get me

You're in this town. YEAH!

Gonna be trouble

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Want a fighter? Come on--

But don't you understand?

I can't be double

Baby, I'm the trouble man

But don't you cry

I will dry all your tears (don't you cry)

We'll be alright, all night long

Don't you cry

I will love you

Never leave you...leave you alone.

Gonna be trouble

It's gettin' out of hand

Gonna be trouble

Yeah baby, I'm the man

You wanna rumble? How 'bout tonight?

They want a war

Just let them fight!

Gonna be trouble

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Want a fighter? Come on--

But don't you understand?

I can't be double

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Baby, I'm the trouble man

Baby, I'm the trouble man


End file.
